^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^J 
 
 ./6 . \ 
 
 
 Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund. 
 
 
 
 BV 3215 .L387 1887 
 Laurie, Thomas, 1821-1897. 
 Woman and the gospel in 
 Persia 
 
 
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 K 
 
MISSIONARY ARMAnS, 
 
 Price per vol. cloth 30c, paper 1 5c. 
 
 I. 
 
 MEMOIR OF ROBERT MOFFAT 
 
 BY MRS. M. L. WILDER. 
 
 II. 
 
 LIFE OF ADONIRAM JUDSON 
 
 BY MISS JULIA H. JOHNSTON. 
 
 III. 
 
 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA 
 
 BY REV. THOMAS LAURIE, D. D. 
 
 Others in preparation. Sent postpaid on receipt of price. 
 
 Woman's Pres. Board of Missions of the Northwest. 
 
 48 MCCORMICK BLOCK, CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
MISSIONARY ANNALS. 
 
 (A SERIES.) 
 
 r 
 
 DEC 4 1916 
 
 V 
 
 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL 
 
 IN PERSIA. 
 
 REV. THOMAS LAURIE, D. D. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions of the Northwest, 
 Koom 48, McCormick Block, 
 
Copyright, 1887, by the 
 
 Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions 
 
 of the Northwest. 
 
e©RTGHTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 II. THE NESTORIANS. 
 
 " III. THE BEGINNINGS. 
 
 " IV. THE SEMINARY. 
 
 V. EARLY LABORS FOR WOMEN. 
 
 VI. REVIVALS. 
 
 " VII. FIRST FRUITS. 
 
 " VIII. DARK DAYS. 
 
 " IX. PRAYERFULNESS OF NESTORIAN CONVERTS. 
 
 X. THE MOUNTAIN NESTORIANS. 
 
 " XI. CONCLUSION. 
 
N0TG. 
 
 THIS book is an abridgment of " Woman and her Savior in 
 Persia," by Rev. Thomas Laurie, D. D., and has been 
 generously prepared by him and presented to the Woman's 
 Presbyterian Board of Missions of the Northwest, for this 
 series. 
 
 Necessarily much of the larger work has been omitted, and 
 it is hoped that the perusal of these pages will induce many to 
 read the original work (303 pages, Congregational Publishing 
 Society, Boston, Mass., price $1.25). That volume contains, 
 among other things, the best map yet prepared of the Nestorian 
 country, a number of illustrations, prepared by a missionary, 
 among them views of the Seminary where Miss Fiske taught, 
 many interesting letters from Nestorian women and several 
 compositions by the pupils, (pages 242-262), one of them the 
 Bible story of Hannah, from an Oriental stand-point, together 
 with many details of missionary history for which this pamphlet 
 has not room. That same want of room has led the writer to 
 try to strike out every superfluous word from these pages. 
 
 W. P. B. M. OF THE N. W. 
 
Woman and the Gospel 
 
 IX PERSIA, 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 MAY 1, 1816, in the quiet hill town of Shelburne, 
 Mass., Fidelia Fiske began her earthly life. July 12, 
 1831, she became a member of the church there. In 1842, 
 she graduated at Mt. Holyoke Seminary, and had just begun 
 her work as teacher in that institution, when she sailed for 
 Persia, March 1, 1843. For fifteen years she was principal of 
 the Girls' Seminary at Oroomiah, and of more than a thousand 
 missionaries whom he had known, Dr. Anderson said that none 
 left a brighter record than hers. He adds, "It seemed as 
 though she spoke and acted just as I would have expected the 
 Saviour to speak and act in the same situation." 
 
 A returned missionary felt that some written record should 
 be made of her labors, and as he could not induce her to 
 make it, made it himself from materials furnished by her. 
 It was reward enough to have her write to a friend. " I 
 feel that God sent him to do it." It was done none too soon 
 for on July 26, of the following year, she entered into rest. 
 
 5 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 THE NESTORIANS.* 
 
 THIS people are Syrians. They speak a modern dialect 
 of the Ancient Syriac which is the language our Saviour 
 spoke when on earth, and ecclesiastically belong to the ancient 
 Syrian Church. The Patriarch always bears the name of 
 Mar Shimon (Lord Simon) as the successor of Simon Peter. 
 Their country commences on the banks of the river Tigris, 
 occupies the western slopes of central Kurdistan and reaches 
 down to the Eastern declivities to the lake of Oroomiah. For 
 centuries they have been oppressed by the Moslems. They 
 have not been allowed to be merchants, only the coarsest kinds 
 of handicraft have been open to them, and a decent garment 
 has been safe on a Nestoria*i only when hidden under rags. 
 Mohammedan law gave the property of the family to any 
 member of it that became a Moslem, so when Moslem noble- 
 men seized Nestorian girls for their harems, they claimed 
 the entire possession of the outraged family in the name of 
 their victim at the same time. Their language had no word 
 for home. Several generations eat, slept and did all household 
 work in a single room. This was lighted by a hole in the 
 earthen roof that served for chimney, so that the interior 
 glistened with smoke as though coated with black varnish. 
 The earthen floor was partly covered with coarse straw mats, 
 and in dry weather the earth sifted down from the ceiling of 
 
 *There is no country of Nestoria as some speak of it. The name Nestori- 
 ans is ecclesiastical, not geographical, derived from Nestorius the Patri- 
 arch of Constantinople in A D. 428. 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 7 
 
 rough sticks, or, after rain, poured down in the form of mud. 
 In the mountains some houses are half under ground, and oc- 
 cupied by herds and flocks as well as men, so as to utilize the 
 animal heat, for wood is scarce, and dried manure is often the 
 only fuel. The influence of such abodes on neatness and moral- 
 ity need not be told. Yonan wrote in 1858, "Widow Hatoon 
 tries to have family prayer, but it is very difficult. To use her 
 own words, 'we are all in one room and our beds are very near 
 each other. When we retire, as there is no separate chamber, 
 I gather them behind a quilt and talk and pray with them'." 
 Truly where there is a will there is also a way, but how 
 many would follow Hatoon's example? Vermin of all kinds 
 abound. Mrs. Grant burst into tears the first time she detect- 
 ed a certain insect on her clothing, but it was not the last 
 one, for contact with the natives renews the supply, however 
 thoroughly the pests may have been destroyed. Did not the 
 Master suffer in the same way in His seeking for that which 
 was lost ? If such houses are full of discomfort in health, what 
 are they in sickness ? Mothers often have no better sick- 
 room than Mary found in Bethlehem. Many are born and 
 many mothers die every year among the cattle. Mothers 
 also labored in the field, carrying their babes as well as 
 their rude hoes and other tools. Then at night they cook for 
 their husbands and wait on them at table before they eat 
 themselves. The birth of a daughter was mourned over, 
 nor were they reckoned in counting the family. It was 
 deemed dishonorable to enquire after the health of a wife, 
 nor might she speak to her husband before his parents, who, 
 it will be remembered, lived in the same room. There was 
 scarcely a husband who did not beat his wife, and such treat- 
 ment yielded the natural fruit of bitter hate. 
 
 The change wrought by the grace of God appears in an inci- 
 
8 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 dent that occurred in the Seminary in 1849. One of the older 
 pupils was betrothed and when the ring was to be placed on her 
 finger she could not be found. After long search she was 
 heard in a retired part of the building humbly imploring 
 the blessing of God on her new relation. Only those who have 
 seen the reveling common on such occasions can appreciate 
 the change in marriage ceremonies and entertainments which 
 are now much more in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel. 
 In 1835, Heleneh, the sister of Mar Shimon, was the only 
 woman who could read. Ask one " Would you like to read ?" 
 and the answer would be, " I am a woman, " as though that 
 settled it. Both sexes regarded it as immodest for a woman 
 to read. All that was lovely and of good report was lacking 
 in many. They were wronged, but also defiant, hateful and 
 hating. Their outbursts of passion were awful to witness. 
 The list of those who did not love their husbands was as large 
 as that of those who beat their wives. Miss Fiske's pity for 
 them became anguish when she found how low they were. 
 They appealed to her as sent of the Virgin Mary to help them, 
 and she had to answer, that she came not to save them from 
 their husbands, but to show them how to be happy with them. 
 To know how rapidly the human tongue can move, one must 
 hear an Oriental woman in a fit of rage ; one alone often drove 
 off the tax-gatherers from a village after the men had fled. 
 None who ever heard the stinging shrillness of their tongues, 
 or looked on their frenzied gesticulations, would wonder why 
 the Furies were painted as women. Their hair streams in the 
 wind, and stones seem only the emphases of their yells. They 
 are full as profane as the men. A dying convert, in her 
 father's house, had to draw up the quilt over her head in order 
 to pray unmolested for her revilers. Lying was as common 
 as profanity, and stealing no less prevalent. 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 9 
 
 The following letter from Raheel (Rachel) shows the 
 transformation effected by the Gospel in such women. It 
 is written September 10, 1859, to the mother of Miss Fiske, 
 in Shelburne, Mass. 
 
 My Dear Grandmother Hannah: — "Though I have 
 never seen you, yet I must write to you, for I love all Miss 
 Fiske's friends as I do my own and especiallyyourself. I thank 
 you for all your love to me ; blessings have thus reached me 
 that were not given to others. When among us it was a dis- 
 grace for a girl to learn to read. God poured such love into your 
 heart, as made you willing to send your daughter eight thou- 
 sand miles to show our people that there is salvation for 
 women. They used to dwell on those words of Solomon, 'One 
 man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all 
 these have I not found'; but now they see that Christ died 
 for women also. Many thanks for your self-denial all these 
 years. I can appreciate it somewhat, for my own mother, if 
 she did not see me for the five months of term time, mourned 
 very much. 
 
 " It was certainly a sacrifice for Christ to come into this 
 world, and for the Father to send His Son, when He knew 
 all the agony there would be in His cup in this world of sin. 
 
 " You will see your daughter much changed from what 
 she was fifteen years ago, but I know that when Christ shall 
 sit upon His throne, judging the world, then all the sorrows 
 of separation will seem to the Christian like the small 
 dust of the balance, and especially to you when you see 
 so many Nestorian girls on His right hand, whom you, 
 through your daughter, were the means of bringing there, 
 to have joyful life with Christ in His kingdom. 
 
 "lean never repay your love, but God can, and I ask 
 Him to repay you in Heaven. I should never tire if I 
 wrote to my dear mother Miss Fiske, every day, but this time 
 I thought she would like me to write to you, and I hope that 
 you will live to receive it. From your Grand-daughter whom 
 you have not seen." 
 
10 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 At first nothing was safe in the Seminary save under lock 
 and key. Often, after a promise to do better, the buttons would 
 disappear again from the washing. Miss Fiske could not even 
 keep a pin on her table, and if discovered in their possession, 
 they claimed that they found them, and nothing could be 
 proved. One evening, just before they passed through her 
 room, she put six black pins in the cushion, and stepped out; 
 returning, she found the pins gone, and called them back, but 
 no one had seen them. She told them that as no one else had 
 been there, they must certainly know all about them. Six 
 pairs of hands were lifted up, and six tongues said, " God 
 knows we have not got them ! " and they were searched in vain. 
 She then suggested that together they should ask God to show 
 where they were, and after rising from their knees, she remem- 
 bered that she had not searched their head-dresses, and pro- 
 posed to do it then. One little hand went right up to her cap. 
 That one was examined first, and there were all the pins, noth- 
 ing visible but their heads. They looked on the result as an 
 answer to prayer, and feared to steal when God could so expose 
 them. So apostles -wrote, "Lie not one to another," and 
 "Let him that stole steal no more." The scholars learned 
 more in one hour during the revival of 1846, than in the two 
 years preceding. Miss Fiske wrote, " God made me feel my 
 helplessness, and then He did the work." As for sins of 
 impurity, the more the missionaries became acquainted with 
 the people, the more they mourned over them. 
 
 A specimen of the houses described, is given in an account 
 of a trip to Marbeeshoo, in 1847. The first night was spent 
 in Mawana, in a mud-walled hut, inhabited by over a score of 
 human beings ; hens roosted over head, several calves and 
 lambs had each his corner and a couch of grass. The horses 
 also munched their provender on the other side of a partition 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PEESlA. 11 
 
 some three feet high. Black bread and yoghoort (sour curd) 
 formed the supper. In such a crowd Mr. Stocking held even- 
 ing service and Miss Fiske talked with the women till 10 
 o'clock. Then their hostess said, "now we will settle it." Her 
 guest expected some family pacification, but it was only set- 
 tling their places for the night. Some children were settled 
 among some new hay in a manger ; then one after another fell • 
 asleep on mats without mattress or pillow, and soon men and 
 animals mingled in one discordant chorus of snoring. Miss 
 Fiske had her carpetbag for a pillow, and before the lamp was 
 put out, marked out for herself a route to the door between 
 the sleepers. Fleas drove her out several times, and the cold 
 as often drove her back, but sleep was impossible. Next 
 day she thanked God for the pure air of the mountains, 
 though the narrow path at times lay along the edge of a 
 precipice; but her quarters that night were in striking con- 
 trast to the last, for they were in the home of one of her pupils, 
 who welcomed her saying, "I heard where you were last night 
 and know you had no sleep. Come right to my room, it is 
 clean, and no one shall disturb you." Two hours of refreshing 
 sleep preceded a dinner of fresh bread, nicely browned fish, 
 honey from their own hives, and milk from their own 
 flocks. 
 
 To keep her guest's room uncontaminated, Senum took 
 her to another, where she met some three hundred women, 
 who never heard before such words as she spoke of Christ and 
 His salvation. And here we add, that now, some husbands 
 provide a separate apartment for their brides, and need the 
 word " home " to give expression to their mutual joy. 
 Thoughtful preparation is also made for the hour of woman's 
 suffering, and many hearts safely trust in the daughters of 
 the Seminary. 
 
12 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS. 
 
 IF Nestorians were so prejudiced against the education of 
 woman, how was that prejudice overcome? Mrs. Judith, 
 wife of Dr. A. Grant, was a rare scholar before marriage, both 
 in the classics and mathematics. In Persia she was soon at 
 home in the Turkish. She read the ancient Syriac and ac- 
 quired the vernacular with facility. She taught Mar Yohanan 
 and other bishops English. And as they saw her turn to her 
 Greek Testament whenever the English differed from the 
 Syriac, they learned to honor womanhood. All her rare 
 gifts were laid at the feet of her Saviour. And when such 
 an one showed intense desire for the education of woman, 
 prejudice fell before her. She taught her domestics to read. 
 She mingled with both Christian and Moslem women, and 
 did not rest till she had opened a school for girls. She began 
 with only four. And, when her health forced her to leave 
 the school room, her pupils came to her sick chamber. Her 
 ready pencil prepared Syriac maps, and the Missionary 
 Herald was indebted to her for the map of Oroomiah that so 
 often appeared there, and in the Annual Reports. Her suc- 
 cessors have often wondered at the power she put forth in 
 behalf of the education of woman, and Mar Elias only voiced 
 the feelings of all good men, when, after her death, he said : 
 "As she has done so much for us, we want the privilege of 
 digging her grave with our own hands." 
 
 After her, the school was cared for by Mr. Holladay, and 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 13 
 
 then passed into the hands of Dr. Wright, who had charge of it 
 when Miss Fiske arrived, June 14, 1843. It was at that time 
 only a day school, and contact with vice in the home greatly 
 hindered its success. For that reason she sought to make 
 it a boarding school, but it was a question whether parents 
 would allow their daughters to spend the night under her 
 roof. Still the mission appropriated money for the support 
 of six pupils to be under its control for three years. Some 
 doubted the possibility of the plan. Even Priest Abraham 
 said: "I cannot bear the reproach of having my daughter 
 live with you. 5 ' Scarcely a girl twelve years of age was not 
 betrothed, and years were devoted to preparation for the wed- 
 ding. Miss Fiske wrote : "The first Syriac word I learned 
 was bratha (daughter), and I often ask parents for their 
 daughters. Mrs. Grant got day scholars, and I mean to 
 devote at least five years to getting boarding scholars. I 
 wonder that I am allowed to take her place." She spent the 
 time between 3 o'clock and tea among the mothers, who often 
 said : "Mrs. Grant did just as you do." 
 
 One day in August Mar Yohanan told her : "You get 
 ready, and I find girls;" but October came and not one had 
 been found. Looking out from her window one day, she 
 saw him crossing the court leading a girl by each hand. One 
 was Selby, his own niece, seveD years of age, and the other, 
 Hanee, three years older. Their outward appearance was not 
 inviting, but it did not take her long to reach the door, where 
 the bishop laid the little hands in hers, saying : "They be 
 your daughters. No man take them from your hand." She, 
 on her part, was glad to give them to the Lord Jesus. The 
 number soon increased to six, though a fortnight after, two 
 of them ran away. Ten years later she saw two women at a 
 re-union of the school whom she did not know. They were 
 
14 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 the runaways, very sorry now, though their places had soon 
 been filled. 
 
 The care of the school was much more wearing than its 
 instruction, for it knew no intermission, day or night, on the 
 Sabbath or through the week. When she went out she must 
 take her pupils with her, for she dared not leave them alone ; 
 indeed, they had been allowed to come only on condition that 
 they should lodge with her and go out only in her company. 
 
 Many difficulties constantly drove her to God for help. One 
 was the extreme poverty of the people. In 1837, even in 
 the snows of winter, few children wore shoes. One boy in 
 Sabbath School wore nothing but a cotton shirt, though the 
 missionary needed all his winter clothes to keep him warm. 
 This poverty disinclined parents to earn bread for their 
 children in school, hence the mission fed them for a while ; 
 but in 1844 Miss Fiske took the lead in declining to do this, 
 and though some feared she would have to resume the prac- 
 tice, it never was resumed. The Seminary numbered twenty- 
 two before the end of the year. In spite of the opposition of 
 Mar Shimon, twenty-six entered at the opening of the next 
 year and the number had increased to forty in 1845. In 1885 
 the whole number in attendance was forty-five. 
 
 A special difficulty grew out of the condition of women in 
 Moslem Persia. Ladies can neither live alone nor appear 
 alone in the streets. They need the shelter of mission fam- 
 ilies. Many a Moslem eye was on the girls as the Gospel 
 developed in them new personal attractions. A nobleman 
 once tried to take one to his harem, but the English Consul 
 interposed. Eternity alone will reveal the vigilance such 
 dangers involved. Any mishap in those early years might 
 have broken up the school. In vacation it seemed strange 
 to Miss Fiske to be able to sleep free from anxiety. 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 15 
 
 Another difficulty was the want of books. In 1843 she 
 only had one, the Ancient Syriac Bible, and a few chapters of 
 the New Testament in the vernacular. Then came a spelling 
 book, mental and written arithmetic; a geography; also a 
 Scripture spelling book and geography of the Bible. But 
 the book most efficient for mental culture was the Bible in 
 the vernacular. The New Testament appeared in 1846 and 
 the Old in 1852, and so eager were the pupils for its pos- 
 session that when the New Testament was offered as a prize 
 for committing to memory the more than one thousand texts 
 of the Scripture Catechism, some learned them all in three 
 weeks, and their joy in obtaining it could hardly be expressed. 
 
16 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SEMINARY. 
 
 HAYING visited Mt. Holyoke Seminary, Mar Yohanan 
 often said, "Of all colleges in America, Mt. Holyoke 
 be the best, and when I see such an one here I (am ready 
 to) die." Where the Gospel is unknown both social condition 
 and education move on a lower level. A school where the 
 alphabet is taught must climb far before its graduates stand 
 on the same literary level with graduates among us and yet 
 its course of study may be the best possible for it. If rag- 
 ged untutored girls, leaping over the benches like wild goats, 
 learn to study diligently, move gently, be kind to each other 
 and respectful to their teachers, that of itself is a good edu- 
 cation. And if besides this, the literary standard rises 
 year by year what more can we ask ? 
 
 To the original reading, writing, singing, and composition, 
 have been added, grammar, arithmetic, geography, Scripture 
 geography, physical geography, and theology, algebra, 
 physics and astronomy, hygiene, history and moral science 
 with oral instructions in physiology, chemistry and other 
 branches. In languages, the scholars have studied Eng- 
 lish and Turkish, Persian and ancient Syriac. The 
 marked ability of the pupils as writers is explained 
 first of all by their thorough study of their own 
 Bibles, and then by Miss Fiske's habit of translat- 
 ing some of our English classics, and practical religious 
 works. They understood those free translations, and they 
 influenced them more than the exact renderings of the press. 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 17 
 
 Baxter's Saints Eest poured red hot into a Syriac mould was 
 more effective than after it had cooled and been filed into 
 conformity to the original. An additional year has been 
 added to the regular four years' course, besides a preparatory 
 department requiring two years. 
 
 The cost to each pupil is very small. In 1853, it was only 
 $18, including board, fuel, light and clothing in part, and 
 this at first was paid by the mission, but gradually, as they 
 were able to bear it, Miss Fiske laid the burden on them, so 
 as to train them to sustain their own institutions as soon as 
 possible. Doing more for them than is necessary only aggra- 
 vates their poverty. When they began to clothe themselves, it 
 was delightful to see the interest parents took in clothing 
 their daughters, then they paid a trifle for tuition, and 
 though at first the collection of the small sum cost more than 
 its money value, yet, as an education of the people to care 
 for themselves, it was beyond all price. Afterwards Miss 
 Fiske and Miss Rice advanced along the same line, and her 
 successors still go on toward the self support which is the 
 goal of their desires. A mission can not be content with less 
 self denial on the part of its beneficiaries than is practiced 
 by its supporters at home. 
 
 Except from the mountains, none are received now who do 
 not furnish their own clothing, bed and books. Most pay for 
 tuition annually two tomans ($4.00), a few one toman 
 ($2.00), and a very few five sahib krans (a sahib kran is 
 twenty-five cents). 
 
 In 1886, Monday afternoon was devoted to sewing, and 
 the girls learned to mend neatly. At the examination that 
 year much interest was awakened by an exhibition of their 
 handiwork to which the village women were invited. Girls 
 dressed in neatly mended garments were commended much 
 
18 W031AN AND THE GOSPEL IN PEESIA. 
 
 more than those daily seen wearing velvet dresses and at 
 the same time ragged stockings. 
 
 n the matter of dress, furniture and diet, the aim was not 
 to educate them out of sympathy with their people, but 
 to give them such a standard of neatness as through them 
 to lead their people upward by a healthy advance. 
 
 Miss Fiske had such a dread of the home influences that at 
 first she sought to retain her pupils even through vaca- 
 tions, but she soon saw that both their health and useful- 
 ness suffered, and that to retain their sympathy with the peo- 
 ple, and that of the people with them, the vacation must be 
 spent at home. This opened the way for many delightful 
 meetings with native women, in which the pupils rendered 
 valuable aid. It also secured the co-operation of parents in 
 promoting the good of their daughters. During her whole 
 stay in Persia, fathers rarely disregarded her wishes for 
 their daughters. 
 
 The poverty of the mission called for a domestic depart- 
 ment in the Seminary, and, though girls ten years of age could 
 not take charge of it, yet a beginning was made, but it 
 required unspeakable labor and patience, for at first their work 
 was much more of a hindrance than a help. Still it trained 
 them to wait upon themselves, the influence of bad domestics 
 was avoided, and as they could not walk out unprotected, 
 the work took the place of out door exercise, and thus pro- 
 moted health, while the pupils learned to be content in their 
 humble homes, having formed habits of system, punctuality 
 and neatness such as they could not otherwise have learned. 
 At the same time all that was harmless in their home 
 habits was left untouched. 
 
 At first, in their daily reports, no question was asked which 
 the teacher herself could not answer, beginning with the 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 19 
 
 single inquiry whether they had combed their hair that day. 
 By degrees she added others as they were able to bear them. 
 Under so gentle a search they may have deemed themselves 
 very good, but they little suspected how much she did not 
 dare to ask. After the revival, she could ask about things 
 she did not know, and now, in this matter, they compare well 
 with our own Seminaries. There is very little communica- 
 tion in the school-room. In 1852 there were only five 
 failures on this point for four months, and those by new 
 scholars. How many schools at home could show a better 
 record ? 
 
 Miss Fiske thus pictures a day's work in 1854. Waked by 
 a bell at early dawn, in twenty minutes all are ready for their 
 half hour of private devotion, during which the quiet is 
 almost perfect. Then at family prayer in the school-room, 
 besides reading Scripture and prayer, they sing a Syriac 
 hymn, and some of them can repeat all the hymns in the 
 hymn-book. (In 1862 there were two-hundred.) Soon after 
 this comes breakfast. Then all attend to their morning work, 
 followed by an hour of quiet study in their rooms. At 8 :45, 
 Miss Fiske enters the school-room and offers the opening 
 prayer. Then the older pupils recite in Daniel, after that 
 the others come in from reciting in another room, and soon 
 recess in the yard makes all fresh again. The younger 
 classes then study with Miss Fiske the life of Christ, and it 
 is delightful to hear their own fresh thoughts concerning 
 the blessed Saviour. His journeys are traced on maps pre- 
 pared by themselves. After this, one class recites ancient 
 Syriac to Yonan, and another in physiology goes out to Miss 
 Rice, leaving Miss Fiske with the older girls and their com- 
 positions. The present topic for these is " Christ in the old 
 Testament." After a general exercise of fifteen minutes, 
 
20 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 comes the noon recess of one and a half hours for lunch and 
 recreation. The last fifteen minutes of this are devoted to 
 a prayer meeting. 
 
 In the afternoon Miss Eice has charge of the school. 
 The first hour is given to writing, or astronomy. Geography 
 follows till recess, and, after that, singing or spelling. 
 The last hour Miss Fiske hears a lesson on the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, studied in connection with the Old Testament. 
 At the same hour, Miss Eice has a lesson in Judges, and 
 then come the daily reports, and an hour before supper is 
 given to calls. After supper is cleared away, comes recess, 
 followed by evening prayer. Then an hour for study, and 
 half an hour for private devotion closes the day. 
 
 Saturday is for washing and mending, and the girls are 
 busy all day long. Before sunset all repair to the school 
 room, to see if everything is in order. Half an hour before 
 supper sees all finished, and after leaving the supper table 
 everything is arranged for the morning, and all have a quiet 
 half hour in their rooms. Then the school is divided into 
 two prayer meetings, each led by a teacher, in which 
 absent ones are remembered, also the seminaries in Constanti- 
 nople, South Hadley and Oxford (Ohio). All retire from 
 these meetings to their half hour, as they call it, and before 
 9 o'clock all is quiet. 
 
 On Sabbath they rise at 5:30, and dress for the day. 
 Morning prayer is at 6:30, then breakfast, followed by 
 morning work. After that they study their Sunday-school 
 lesson. At 9:30 comes Syriac service in the chapel, follow- 
 ed by a Sunday school of some two-hundred pupils, in which 
 two-thirds of the members of the Seminary are teachers. 
 The afternoon service begins at 2 o'clock, and the Bible 
 lesson an hour before supper, though some are called earlier 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 21 
 
 to teach the women who come in. At the supper table is 
 evening prayers, and at 7 o'clock the teachers go to the 
 English prayer-meeting, while each room has what they 
 call a family prayer-meeting by itself. After that, the 
 teachers converse with any who want to see them, and this 
 hour often witnesses some, for the first time, submitting to 
 God. 
 
 Let us view the Seminary from a native standpoint. Esli, 
 one of the teachers, wrote to Miss Fiske in 1859: "We have 
 pleasant seasons of prayer in our school this winter, and we 
 trust some have been born again; my circle of girls in the 
 kitchen works well and keeps it clean. Should you drop in 
 you would find everything in order. On Wednesday we 
 scour the shelves and doors. I went to my village in vaca- 
 tion. Our prayer-meetings were delightful, and I enjoyed 
 much, praying with the women alone. In the school we have 
 studied Ezra in connection with Haggai and Zechariah, and 
 are now in Nehemiah. In the New Testament, we are on 
 the third journey of Paul, and are nearly through Scripture 
 geography.' 
 
 These extracts are from a journal she kept in 1860: 
 
 " Feb. 1. To-day a part of the girls wrote on anger, and 
 others had for a topic, 'the Gospel.' 
 
 " 3d. John was here to-day writing to Mount Holyoke 
 Seminary, and attended our noon prayer-meeting. In the 
 afternoon, Deacon Joseph preached from the words: 'King 
 of Kings, and Lord of Lords. 1 In the evening Mr. Coan 
 sang with us. 
 
 " 9th. A blessed morning, some are very thoughtful. 
 This appeared in the quiet at table and the silence in the 
 kitchen. The work was done earlier and better than usual. 
 During the study hour, the voice of prayer sounded sweetly 
 
22 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 in every room. While walking in the yard, and when they 
 came in, the girls were very quiet. While Hanee prayed at 
 our noon meeting some wept. When Miss Rice dismissed 
 us none moved, all were bowed on their desks weeping. She 
 then called for prayer, and while I prayed all were in tears. 
 All the rules have been well kept to-day. This evening 
 communicants met with Miss Rice, the rest with Martha. 
 Hanee asked us to pray for Rachel, and I asked prayers for 
 Hannah and Parangis who are in my room." 
 
 Miss M. S. Rice has kindly furnished the following names 
 of the teachers in the seminary, with the dates of their 
 service : 
 
 Fidelia Fiske, from June 1843, to July 1858. 
 Mary Susan Rice, " Nov. 1847, " May 1869. 
 Aura J. Beach, " July 1860, " Sept. 1862. 
 
 Mrs. Sarah J. Rhea, " 1865, " 1869. 
 
 N. Jennie Dean, " Oct. 1868, still there. 
 
 Mary K. Van Duzee " 1875, " " 
 
 Harriet N. Crawford, and Lucy M. Wright were connected 
 with the Seminary in the winter of 1864-'65. 
 
 Deacon Siyad was native teacher from the beginning of 
 Mrs. Grant's labors, down to the coming of Miss Dean. 
 
 Malik Yonan taught from 1847 to 1860. 
 
 The first class that graduated (3) became teachers. 
 
 Rachel and Martha taught from 1858 to 1864. 
 
 Hoshebo has taught for twenty years. 
 
 The writer would have liked to give as full an account of 
 the labors of the successors of Miss Fiske, as of hers, but 
 several reasons prevent this. There is not the same material 
 for so full a record of their work. In many things it would 
 be a mere repetition of what has been already told, and last 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 23 
 
 but not least, this is an abridgment of a larger work, and 
 there is hardly room for the few words that seek to give the 
 reader some idea of the work as it has gone forward since 
 she rested from her labors. 
 
24 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EARLY LABORS FOR WOMEN. 
 
 THE teachers of the Seminary labored for mothers as 
 well as for daughters, and never felt that they gave 
 them too much of their time. At first the women felt" that 
 they could not attend the same service with men, but Miss 
 Fiske induced a few to come to her room at the same hour, 
 and as she was not yet a proficient inSyriac (1844), she had 
 a missionary conduct the service. The first day only five came, 
 but soon the number grew to forty ; on the third Sabbath, 
 she found one bowed to the dust with a sense of her sinful- 
 ness. When Miss Fiske prayed with her she repeated every 
 word very softly, and so intense were her feelings that she 
 rose from her knees covered with perspiration. She con- 
 fessed that her life had been one of opposition to God, and 
 that no outward observances could procure forgiveness. She 
 was pointed to the Lamb of God who taketh away sin, and 
 at length, to use her own words, "I was praying, and the Lord 
 poured peace into my heart." From being one of the most 
 turbulent of her sex, she became noted for her gentleness and 
 general consistency. This first enquirer died afterwards, 
 trusting peacefully in her Savior. 
 
 Miss Fiske also went to other places. One Sabbath she 
 went to Geog Tapa with Mr. Stoddard. It was afternoon, 
 and she was very tired. After the constant strain of the 
 week, during which the burden of her care knew no intermis- 
 sion, not even at night, came the labor of the Sabbath. She 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 25 
 
 had already conducted one prayer-meeting, and taught a 
 Sabbath school, and as she sat on the earthen floor of the 
 church, without any support for her back, it seemed as though 
 nature must give way. Then she thought, " after this service 
 comes my meeting with the women," and she felt wholly un- 
 equal to the effort. As she sat, longing for rest, God sent 
 it in a way she had not looked for. A Nestorian woman saw 
 how tired she was, and sitting down close behind her, bade 
 her lean on her, " But what can you lean on? " was the reply. 
 " I could not be so selfish." Then the strong woman put 
 her arm round her and drawing her back said: "If you love 
 me, lean hard," and she yielded and was refreshed. Her per- 
 son was a soft resting place for the body, her kindness was 
 a greater refreshment to the spirit. And then Miss Fiske 
 seemed to hear the Master repeat the words: "If you love me, 
 lean hard," and she leaned on him also, rejoicing that unlike 
 the woman, he was not wearied by the burden. She felt 
 that the Lord Jesus spoke through that woman, and her 
 heart overflowed with the peace of God. That hour with the 
 women was an unusual feast, and after sunset she rode back 
 six miles to her home. She wondered that there was no re- 
 action; neither that night, nor next day, and she went many 
 days resting on those sweet words: "If you love me, lean 
 hard," nor was she alone refreshed, but many others have also 
 drank of this fountain in the wilderness, and shared her 
 comfort. 
 
 Some of her first efforts to interest women in the Bible 
 were amusing in the manner in which difficulties were over- 
 come. 
 
 She would sit down among them on the floor, read a verse, 
 and then question them to see if they understood it: for ex- 
 ample, after reading about the Creation she asked "Who was 
 
26 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA 
 
 the first man?" They answered, "What do we know: we are 
 women; " equivalent in English to "We are donkeys." Then 
 she read again "The Lord God called unto Adam," and asked 
 "Who did God speak to ?" Again no answer. Then she 
 made them repeat the name of Adam over and over till they 
 remembered it. This set them to listening, and listening to 
 thinking. The machinery was there, but so rusty that it 
 required all her skill and patience to make it move. The 
 least movement, however, was great gain. Another lesson 
 would take up Eve, (Syriac Hawa, meaning Life.) She 
 began : "Is not that a pretty name ? and wouldn't you like 
 to know that you had a great-grandmother called Life ? 
 Now that was the name of our first mother, both yours and 
 mine." Faces previously stolid lighted up after that, when- 
 ever the preacher mentioned the names of our first parents. 
 One would nudge another and say, "Didn't you hear ? He 
 said Adam," or "Hawa," as the case might be. This was in 
 the city; but in the country villages it was certainly no 
 better. 
 
 In the summer of 1844 Mr. Stocking proposed a visit to 
 Ardishai. So one horse carried the tent, another Mr. Stock- 
 ing's children in baskets balanced on either side of the pack 
 saddle; and a third miscellaneous baggage, and besides these 
 were the animals they rode. The first night the tent was 
 pitched on one of the threshing floors of Geog Tapa, but, as 
 American ladies were a novelty in Ardishai, in that village 
 it was pitched on one of the flat roofs, to be out of the reach 
 of annoyance. 
 
 It was Miss Fiske's first day in a large village, and she be- 
 came quite exhausted in her long talks with the women. Then 
 the mosquitoes allowed no rest at night, and morning brought 
 back the crowd as persistent as the tinier assailants during the 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 27 
 
 darkness. When Mr. Stocking preached in the church the 
 women sat close to their strange sisters, handling and com- 
 menting on their foreign dresses. At the close Priest Abra- 
 ham, without any authority, announced that Miss Fiske would 
 preach in the afternoon. Mr. Stocking, however, took her 
 place and preached to some six hundred women and half as 
 many children. They were so noisy that at no time were there 
 less than half a dozen voices competing with the preacher. 
 When he closed many cried, "Now let Miss Fiske preach." 
 So he left her to their tender mercies. She told them that when 
 she knew their language better she would talk with them, but 
 she could not speak at the same time with them, for God 
 had given her a very small voice and her words could no 
 more mingle with theirs than oil and water. They said "We 
 will be silent if you will come and preach." Months passed 
 and she returned. Hundreds came to hear her, but they 
 were not silent. When she began they began, and if she 
 asked them to be quiet, each commanded her neighbor to be 
 still, and the louder the uproar the louder were the orders. 
 At length she said, "I cannot speak more until you put your 
 fingers on your mouths." All fingers went up and she pro- 
 ceeded. "I have a story to tell, but if one finger goes down 
 I must stop." Instantly muffled voices on all sides cried, 
 "Be still, so that we can hear the story;" and the four hun- 
 dred women were silent. "Once there was an old woman ; 
 I did not know her ; nor my father ; nor, I think, my grand- 
 father, but he told me" . Here began many questions 
 
 about said grandfather, but the fingers were ordered up; for 
 they should hear no more if they talked about him. — "Now, 
 this woman talked in meeting, and, after many reproofs, she 
 was forbidden to go to church. She promised to do better ; 
 but, poor soul, she could not be still. Then, as soon as she 
 
28 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 heard her own voice, she cried: 'Oh, I have spoken in meet- 
 ing ! What shall I do ! Why, I keep on speaking and can- 
 not stop I" By this time their fingers were pressed on their 
 lips, and none uttered a sound. Having thus secured silence 
 she read to them from the Gospel about Mary, talked and 
 prayed with them, and they went away still and thoughtful. 
 This incident gives a vivid picture of woman as she was in 
 Persia, and the tact needed to secure a first hearing for the 
 truth. In March, 1850, MissKice met nearly three hundred 
 women in the same church ; some awakened, and a few 
 already hopefully converted. 
 
 In July, 1851, Mr. Stocking and family and Misses Fiske 
 and Kice, with others, spent the vacation in Gawar, moving in 
 tents like the ancient patriarchs. They first pitched their 
 camp near Memikan. The women came to see them frequently, 
 and few left without some idea of the way of life. The 
 native helpers here were unwearied in labors, and sometimes 
 woke the others in the morning with their prayers. On Sab- 
 bath, after morning service, the women came to the tents to 
 receive instruction. In the evening, one whose son, a mem- 
 ber of the Boys' Seminary, had died in February, brought 
 her youngest daughter to give to them in his stead. She 
 said "Guwergis has gone to Heaven; you led him there; and 
 we now intrust to you our little daughter." The father said, 
 as his tears glistened in the moonlight, "I shall soon re-join 
 him. My trust in Jesus grows stronger every day." The 
 mention of the son's name secured attention at ce from 
 all, to any word spoken about his Saviour. 
 
 On Monday they left for Ishtazin on mules, as horses could 
 not travel the frightful paths. At another time, on the same 
 road, the saddle-girth broke and Miss Fiske fell, but provi- 
 dentially was unhurt. Sometimes they climbed, or more 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 29 
 
 perilous still, descended a steep, rocky stair, or were hid in 
 the clouds that hung around the peaks above then. Now 
 they passed under large detached rocks, that seemed ready 
 to crush them, and now under solid cliffs that suggested the 
 shadow of a great rock in a weary land. In the valley were 
 water-falls; little plats rescued with much labor from the 
 waste ; fruits, and such a variety of flowers, that it seemed as if 
 three seasons had united to supply them. The eye rested on 
 what appeared to be silver threads hanging from distant 
 summits, but were in fact, torrents dashing headlong down 
 the rocks, yet so far off that no sound reached the ear. 
 
 The party stopped at Ooreya on a flat roof shaded by a 
 splendid walnut tree. The people brought ntulberries and 
 apples, while a more substantial meal was prepared. After 
 supper all adjourned to the church-yard, and there in the 
 moonlight eagerly listened to the Gospel. The silence of 
 night was broken only by the voice of the preacher, and 
 the surrounding rocks seemed to repeat joyfully the unwonted 
 sounds. Yonan preached from the words "Jesus went about 
 
 all Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom." He 
 
 asked whether Christ did right in this. "Certainly," was 
 their reply. "Then as He did, so must His people do. When 
 we cease to do this, think that we have apostatized to Islam, 
 for Christians cannot but go from place to place to preach 
 the Gospel." To appreciate this, the reader must remem- 
 ber that Mar Shimon had forbidden his people to receive the 
 missionaries because they preached the Gospel. Then he 
 gave an account of the doctrines that Jesus preached, bring- 
 ing out the very marrow of the Gospel. Khamis followed 
 with an impassioned exhortation. He had been considered 
 a good preacher before, but here, in his native mountains, he 
 went beyond himself. 
 
30 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 The next forenoon was filled up by personal conversa- 
 tion with those who never heard such truths before. In 
 the evening very earnest attention was given to an open-air 
 service in Boobawa. The following Sabbath, besides two 
 services in Memikan there was preaching in three other vil- 
 lages. In Chardewar, the home of Priest Dunkha, his daugh- 
 ter Sanum, just arrived, was already full of work. One Sab- 
 bath almost every woman in the place had come to hear her, 
 and she said she could not ask a better field in which to 
 work for Christ. 
 
 From Memikan they went to Darawe, where the people 
 would hardly allow them to pitch their tent; yet even here 
 the power of Christian love was felt. Neighboring villagers 
 wondered at their going there, and still more at their being 
 able to remain. At Keyat the kindness of the people was 
 the more grateful for the contrast. 
 
 Next Sabbath Yonan preached to about two hundred peo- 
 ple at Sanawar, where were many refugees from Saat. Their 
 camp was a circle of huts, where spinning and weaving was 
 going on as well as cooking; but the women at once left 
 their work to welcome Misses Fiske and Rice. Some of 
 them had heard the Gospel in Mosul. One widow, though 
 unable to read, showed a spiritual acquaintance with the 
 truth. When sin was spoken of : "Yes," said she, "we were 
 all shapen in iniquity, as David testifies." When asked if 
 she expected to be saved, she replied : "I am very far from 
 God, yet my only hope is in the wounds of Christ. If I stand 
 penitently beneath His cross I hope that though my sins are 
 red like scarlet yet they shall become as white as snow." It 
 was inspiring in a region where they looked only for dark- 
 ness, to find the light streaming through from another mission. 
 It was a foretaste of the time when the voice of one watch- 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 31 
 
 man should reach to another on those mountain tops. Some 
 years later they heard that this stranger sister held fast her 
 trust until she fell asleep in Jesus. 
 
 If this was true so far back as 1851 we should expect sim- 
 ilar heralds of the dawn since then, and the Oroomiah report 
 of the work for women in 1885 tells us that Elia (Elias) of 
 Buhtan ( Lay ard writes Boktan), a district in the mountains 
 east of Jezireh has taken for a wife Bukhamee (SeeHos.ii:l) 
 daughter of Priest Mikhael, one of the early helpers in Mo- 
 sul. She was educated at Mardin, and for several years has 
 been teaching there. She is a most valuable addition to our 
 force in that part of the field. Though she spoke Arabic 
 only, before her marriage, then she began the study of the 
 Syriac, and can now conduct a Bible class in that language. 
 She has taken hold of the work with much interest and energy. 
 Bakhamee, wife of Hammo, in the same district, has come 
 here with him to qualify themselves for more efficient 
 labor for Christ. She is gentle and humble, but quick to 
 respond to anything she is asked to do for Jesus' sake. Three 
 pupils of the Seminary are now living at Buhtan, and the 
 women keep up regular Friday evening prayer meetings in 
 the villages of Bukhamee and Bakhamee. 
 
 As a companion picture to this, take a visit of the same 
 persons, with thirteen of the pupils, in June, 1852, to Gava- 
 lan, the home of Mar Yohanan. It lies at the northern end 
 of the plain, forty miles from Oroomiah. On the East the 
 blue waters of the lake stretch away to the South in quiet 
 beauty. In the gorgeous hues of sunset, or when reflecting 
 the red rays of the full moon they remind one of "the sea of 
 glass mingled with fire." In the long summer days the 
 breeze from the lake is very grateful, and the evening air 
 from the mountains makes sleep refreshing. 
 
32 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 Mar Yohanan gave the school free use of two rooms dur- 
 ing its stay. In the court a large tent was dining room and 
 divan khaneh (reception room) by day and dormitory at 
 night. An adjoining house made a good recitation room. 
 Here the regular work of the school went on, and while, in 
 the evening, the men found their way to Mr. Stocking, the 
 women came to Misses Fiske and Rice. . At the last meeting 
 with them nearly forty were present, listening with quiet in- 
 terest. On the Sabbath the walls of the tent were lifted 
 outward, so as to admit the air and exclude the sun ; thus 
 forming a pleasant chapel. In the forenoon it was thronged. 
 The boys' school of the village sat around its teacher. The 
 girls' school was known by the smoothness of the hair, the 
 whiteness of the face, and general neatness. The Seminary 
 crowded close to its teachers,and still all could not get under 
 the tabernacle. Mr. Stocking preached in the forenoon, and 
 in the afternoon was Sabbath school. Each pupil of the 
 Seminary had a class and seemed quite at home in the work. 
 They visited their scholars during the week ; and in the school, 
 if the teacher was zealous in her work, the class showed no 
 less interest in being taught. With the same diversity of 
 character as with us, the school showed a greater variety of 
 lessons. Some were in the Old Testament and some in the 
 New. One class was just able to read and another had to be 
 orally taught, while a class of Armenians recited in Turkish. 
 
 On the third Sabbath women and children had vanished, 
 for a report had gone abroad that all this labor was only 
 preparing the way to carry them off to America, but visits 
 during the week dispelled their fears, and this pleasant work 
 went on till September. 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 33 
 
 CHAPTEK YI 
 
 REVIVALS. 
 
 IT is time to go back a few years and give some account 
 of the Bevivals in this mission. The first one seemed 
 to burst forth suddenly like a fountain in the desert. Yet as 
 that is connected with channels below the surface, so was 
 this with an extended preparatory work. For years there 
 had been a diligent inculcation of Gospel truth, and a few 
 individuals had been converted. Deacon John was one of 
 these as far back as 1844. Even among the unrenewed, 
 there was a great difference between communities where mis- 
 sionaries had labored, and those not so favored. The truth had 
 produced a marked change in the habits, intelligence and 
 general appearance of the pupils in the Seminaries. They 
 could no longer trust in their fasts, and they had an intel- 
 lectual apprehension of the way of salvation through Christ. 
 Those best instructed were the first to come to him, and have 
 since lived the most consistent lives, for God sanctifies 
 through the truth. Then the very delay of the blessing 
 called forth more earnest prayer from the husbandmen who 
 were waiting for precious fruit, being patient over it until 
 it received the early and latter rain. Besides, the diminished 
 numbers of the missionaries and the opposition of Mar Shi- 
 mon shut them up to God as their only hope, while among 
 their native helpers the army of Gideon was being rapidly 
 thinned out. The feeling was very strong. "All our springs 
 are in God." One said late in 1845, "God never formed a 
 
34 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA 
 
 soul which Christ cannot redeem from the power of sin. I 
 know these people are sunk in sin, but Christ died to save 
 them, and He shall see in them the travail of his soul, if we 
 are only humble and faithful enough to lead them to him." 
 
 One day in the autumn of 1845, Mr. Stocking, Miss Fiske 
 and Deacon John were riding together when the Deacon 
 asked in English. "If we ever have a revival here, what 
 shall we call it?" Mr. Stocking replied, "First get it, 
 then we will find a name." And when it came the Nestori- 
 ans at once called it "an awakening." Toward the end of 
 the year Deacon John was more active in labor, and earnest 
 in prayer. The teachers in the Seminaries thought not so 
 much of the present character of their pupils, as of the 
 power of God to make them like himself and they labored 
 expecting a blessing. The first Monday of January, 1846, 
 was a day of fasting and prayer. Miss Fiske at morning 
 devotions told her pupils that many were praying for them 
 that day in a distant land, and dismissed them to their 
 studies, Two, Sanem and Sarah, lingered behind, and she 
 said. "Did you not understand me?" They did not answer 
 and she saw they were in tears. " Have you heard bad 
 news?" Still no answer, but when near enough, they said 
 in a low voice. "May we have to-day to care for our souls?" 
 Sarah added, "Perhaps next year I shall not be here." 
 They had no closet, but they made one for themselves in the 
 wood cellar, and spent the day looking unto Jesus. Their 
 teacher did not know where they had gone, till after the 
 death of Sarah, the survivor told her. 
 
 Sabbath evening, January 18, at the English prayer meet- 
 ing, words were few, but the prayers carried the pupils to 
 Jesus, and laid them at his feet. Mr. Stoddard was asked 
 if he saw tokens of interest among his boys, for a while his 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 35 
 
 heart was too full to speak, and then he said, "I should 
 expect them, if I felt as I ought," and passed out. All were 
 struck by his manner, so earnest and so humble. He retired 
 to his study, called John and proposed that every day they 
 make one pupil a subject of special prayer and labor, and 
 begin that night with Yakob. They prayed for him, and 
 then he said. "I want to talk to him to-night. We don't know 
 what may be on the morrow; call him." He came expecting 
 to be reproved for bad behavior that day, but when Mr. 
 Stoddard kindly bade him sit down, and took his hand say- 
 ing. "Have you ever thought that you had a soul to be 
 saved or lost," he broke down at once, and confessed that 
 the school had combined to shut out the subject from their 
 thoughts, but were in fact so agitated that if one of them 
 came to Christ he thought all would follow. Then the good 
 man, who had mourned because he could see no impression 
 from the sermon that day, thanked God and took courage. 
 On Monday he conversed with another and he also went 
 away to pray. At the recitation they both had to leave the 
 room. "It is God," was the word that passed from seat to seat, 
 and at noon they got together to discuss the situation. One 
 proposed to put down the work, but Yonan said, "I don't want 
 to be a Christian but I am afraid to oppose this. If it is the 
 work of God we cannot put it down, if not, we need only let 
 it alone." Nothing more was said but some of them were 
 soon on their knees in prayer. In the evening Mr. Stoddard 
 sent for two of the leaders in the opposition. Yonan was 
 one of them and told afterwards that Mr. Stoddard said : "If 
 you refuse to be saved yourself, I beg you not to hinder 
 others, and eternity so opened up before me, that I was 
 ready to sink. I longed for some one to speak to me of a 
 way of escape. I could not sleep, for I saw but a step 
 
36 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 between me and death." Thursday evening another came 
 deeply agitated, and after conversation he was left to pray 
 alone, and that night he could not sleep. Next morning 
 conversing with Mr. Stoddard he seemed to submit, and find 
 rest. 
 
 On Monday evening Miss Fiske invited those willing to 
 come to Christ at once, to come to her room at 5 o'clock. 
 Before that hour, many were praying for themselves. Just 
 then, she heard for the first time, what was taking place 
 among the boys, and she turned to find five of her girls in 
 the same condition. All the missionaries were untiring in 
 labor, and every day brought out more of those who were 
 taught of God. Wednesday evening, after a sermon from 
 the words: " Behold I stand at the door and knock," no 
 member of the boys' seminary left his seat. After a few 
 personal words they were dismissed, but their feelings were 
 so intense, that they came to the study till near midnight, 
 when, utterly exhausted, their teacher retired. 
 
 Thursday evening the teachers of both seminaries were 
 busy till midnight. During this week the teachers' rooms 
 were so occupied by the pupils for prayer, that their owners 
 could hardly get them for their own devotions. The girls 
 often woke Miss Fiske in the morning, standing by her bed- 
 side, with some question about the way of life. When a 
 new room had been fitted up in the girls' seminary that 
 autumn, the first time Mr. Stoddard saw it, he said: "May 
 it be consecrated to the Lord for ever," and on Friday even- 
 ing, when both schools met in it, Christ seemed to take 
 possession. Seldom has a company been so under the influ- 
 ence of things unseen. Christ himself seemed to speak 
 through his servants, and this and that one entered into 
 union with his Saviour. At the close of the week, ten were 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 37 
 
 trusting in Christ, and on the Sabbath many strong men 
 bowed down. Priest Eshoo, who had been watching others, 
 now looked within. He had always scorned the weakness 
 of tears, but now he wept aloud. Deacon Tamo, also, whose 
 levity had so tried Mr. Stoddard, that he asked : ''Can it 
 be that he is allowed to come here and hinder the work ? " 
 now trembled for fear, and after Mr. Stoddard had prayed 
 with him, said, with streaming eyes: "Thank you, for caring 
 for my soul." 
 
 During the next week, most of the pupils in both semi- 
 naries were under deep conviction, with a strong tendency 
 toward undue excitement. One evening, a score of boys 
 rolled on the floor, groaning and crying aloud. At prayers, 
 Mr. Stocking asked if any had seen the Nazloo river near its 
 source. Surprised by the question, a few answered "Yes." 
 "Was there much water in it?" Wondering yet more, the 
 answer was, "No." "Did it make much noise?" "Yes, 
 very much." " After it entered the plain was it deep and 
 broad?" "Yes, it was full of water." "And was it more 
 noisy?" "No, it was very quiet and still." He then said 
 that he had hoped God had showed them the evil of their 
 hearts, but their noise and confusion led him to fear there was 
 no depth to their experience. The effect was wonderful. 
 From many a closet that night was heard the prayer : "Lord 
 make me to know my heart, and let me not be like that noisy 
 river." The noisy excitement became deep contrition. Their 
 feelings were not less intense, but more gentle, because more 
 spiritual. The converts had much feeling, but little experi- 
 ence in giving that feeling expression, and in the freshness 
 of emotion, like little children, they yielded to every impulse. 
 If under conviction, that found free expression. If they 
 hoped they were forgiven, that, too, at once found utterance. 
 
38 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 There was wonderful transparency, and a tendency to excite- 
 ment that needed careful handling. Sometimes they needed 
 to be hindered from praying together. 
 
 For three weeks few came to the Seminary. It was like 
 one protracted Sabbath. Every corner was consecrated to 
 prayer; but after that, visitors came, and then the converts 
 became helpers in Christ Jesus. Often a dozen women spent 
 the night there, and then the large room became a dormitory. 
 The teacher often staid with them till near midnight, and 
 then could hear them praying the remainder of the night. 
 
 In both Seminaries as many as fifty gave evidence of con- 
 version before the March vacation. When they left, their 
 cry was: "Pray for us amid our temptations at home." One 
 little girl said: "Can a new-born lamb be thrown into the 
 snow and live? and can we live?" Thank God, most of 
 them did live, and shall live forever with Him who gave His 
 life for them. 
 
 Mr. Stoddard was abundant in labors. He wrote out his 
 sermons carefully in English, but in the Syriac idiom. He 
 also excelled in labor with individuals. The first enquirer 
 became such while he pressed home upon him his guilt. After 
 conversing he always prayed with one, and had him do the 
 same, and after he had gone, again commended him to God. 
 He kept a record of every case in a book, and when he began 
 with a man he followed him up. He divided thirty converts 
 into three classes, and met each of them twice a week. It 
 was a great joy to him when they took part in meetings, and 
 they did that as often as once a week (No wonder his 
 strength was not equal to his zeal and love ) . He had great tact 
 in setting others to work for Christ. He taught his pupils 
 to work as well as pray, and assigned definite work to them, 
 not only among schoolmates and visitors, but also among 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 39 
 
 those indisposed to go to church. Once when three-fourths 
 of the school were rejoicing in Christ, he brought mothers, 
 just to furnish work for them. It is needless to add that he 
 himself was happy in his work. 
 
 The converts in the Girls' Seminary, after spending the 
 summer of 1846 at home exposed to much temptation, 
 returned all save one, established in Christian character. 
 Their friends bore witness to their prayerfulness and cheerful 
 obedience, and their influence on others was beneficial. For 
 a while in the autumn, the school was broken up by cholera, 
 but though hundreds died around them, after two rjonths 
 all were spared to meet again. Soon the converts were un- 
 usually earnest in prayer for the rest, and at once the answer 
 came. The first awakened was Moressa, who had received 
 much instruction from Mrs. Grant and Mr. Stocking. For 
 a week her convictions were very deep, and soon others came 
 through a like experience to rest in Christ. 
 
 The first token of a work of grace in 1849 was the unusual 
 seriousness of Deacon John. He had been reading Pike's 
 Guide to Young Disciples, and the chapter on backsliding 
 moved him deeply. This was followed by earnest effort for 
 others, and many converts passed with him through deep 
 searching of heart into a new consecration to God. For days 
 some of them wept and prayed. Their past unfaithfulness to 
 Christ and souls was the great grief of many. One who had 
 wept thus bitterly herself, was fitted to lead others back to 
 God. Her labors were incessant, and in the reduced state 
 of the Mission the labors of these converts were very 
 helpful, though their Oriental ardor needed careful guid- 
 ing, to preserve their health and efficiency. In Geog 
 Tapa, during a short vacation, their daily meetings for 
 women had an attendance of from thirty to one hundred. 
 
40 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 Many were glad to learn the Gospel oven from child- 
 ren. 
 
 In Seir. besides the labors of the members of the Boys' 
 Seminary, Sanum and Moressa labored among the women. 
 They wrote to Miss Lo veil's school at Constantinople : 
 
 "What shall we tell you, beloved, of the great love God has 
 shown us ? For two months we have been happier than we 
 ever were before. The work of the Lord has also begun 
 in the villages. May you see greater wonders among your 
 own people than we see here. In Seir, which contains nine- 
 teen houses, God has visited every family, and two of us were 
 sent there, not because we were fit for the work, for we are 
 deficient in godly knowledge, and every qualification, but 
 because God sometimes chooses the ignorant and weak to do 
 him service ; and what shall we tell you of the wonders God 
 showed among these poor women ? There was no time in 
 which they did not cry : 'Woe unto us ! We are lost ! What 
 shall we do ?' When we asked them to pray with us they 
 prayed ae those do who are taught of God. We wondered 
 at them very much. One woman beat her head with both 
 hands, crying: 'Oh, my sins ! They are so great ! There 
 is no forgiveness !' We tried to reason with her but she 
 would not hear. If we took her hands from her head she 
 beat her breast. She said: 'You told me, the other day, to 
 go to Christ, but I am such a sinner that He will not receive 
 me !' With difficulty we induced her to hear of the great 
 mercy of the Lord. 
 
 "On one occasion we heard a man, perhaps ninety years 
 old, praying in the stable, and his wife in the house. We 
 told them how ready Christ was to dwell with them, poor as 
 they were. The tears rolled down their wrinkled faces and 
 made our own hearts burn within us. The man prayed with 
 us as if Christ stood right before him. 
 
 "Meetings were held several times a day, and after them 
 prayer might be heard on all sides, in the houses and stables. 
 Every family now has morning and evening worship." 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 41 
 
 In this revival the native helpers felt deep anxiety for 
 their unconverted wives. The first visit that Siyad and 
 Yonan made at their homes were blessed to the conviction 
 of their companions, who soon came to the school begging to be 
 taught the way of life. The former had been such a bitter 
 opposer that her frequent visits were always dreaded. But 
 now her convictions deepened day by day till they were 
 overwhelming, then, as she said, "the Saviour found her," and 
 she was at rest. Three children and a daughter-in-law 
 came with her to Christ — witnesses, both to her consistency 
 and her- faithful efforts to do them good. 
 
 Yonan had been married by force two years before, while 
 his heart was set on another. It was a sore trial, but in 
 these matters parents in Persia have everything their own 
 way, and his great desire was to see his wife a Christian. 
 At midnight he was often heard praying for her, and now 
 the answer came. Miss Fiske never forgot the first time 
 she heard her praying with her husband. She then saw new 
 meaning in the words "They believed not for joy." She be- 
 came very active among the women in her village, and when 
 her father-in-law forbade prayer in his house she took her 
 little company behind the church, where the bleak winds of 
 February did not chill their devotion. 
 
 Khanumjan, the mother of John, though past seventy 
 years of age, entered into the work with great zeal. She 
 took the aged women one by one into her closet, that then 
 and there they might accept the Saviour. Though unable to 
 read herself, she encouraged those who did, providing food 
 for such as went to preach in the villages. No wonder she 
 told one: "Three years ago I saw Christ, but now He sits by 
 ray side all day long." 
 
 In this revival there was more encouragement to labor for 
 
42 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 women than ever before. After January 15th, the Seminary 
 was constantly full of enquirers. Day and night it was con- 
 secrated by the prayers of women seeking their Saviour. On 
 the Sabbath many from the villages staid there between 
 services. Sometimes their feelings were so intense that 
 they could eat nothing but the bread of life. 
 
 Degala was so noted for vice that the Nestorians called it 
 Sodom. The first convert there was a young man employed 
 in the Seminary. One day he came, asking if the teacher would 
 receive a petition. Supposing he wanted money, she replied: 
 "Tell me what it is." He at once broke down, and sobbed 
 out: "My village is lost ! My family is perishing, and their 
 blood is on my neck. Let me go and beg forgiveness for 
 my wicked example, and urge them to flee from the wrath 
 to come." He went, and next morning brought his wife and 
 other women to be taught. A week after this Deacon Tamo 
 found several enquirers in that village, and one woman in 
 great agony for her sins. She had been so vile that scarce 
 any one would be seen with her. Next day she came to the 
 seminary and threw herself at the feet of Miss Fiske, crying: 
 "Do tell me what to do, or where to go, to get rid of my 
 sins." She was pointed to Christ, and one moment her feet 
 would rest on the rock, the next a fresh wave of conviction 
 swept her into the raging sea. She was asked to pray, and 
 though she had not in all her life heard ten prayers, her 
 fervent petitions showed that the Spirit helped her infirm- 
 ities. She dated back her convictions to a word spoken in 
 the Seminary by a stranger, who one day seized her hand as 
 soon as she entered, saying: "My sister, we are all lost; we 
 must repent or perish." She could not get the words out 
 of her mind, and from that hour sought Christ until she 
 found Him, and then bore reviling so meekly as to win others 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 43 
 
 also to her Saviour. She is now a most attractive Christian. 
 After the revival in 1850, conversions occurred each year, 
 but not in so marked a manner as in 1849. In 1856 the 
 pupils were very studious and kind to each other, but winter 
 was over before the diminished number of believers began to 
 grow. On Sabbath evening, February 18, Miss Fiske was in 
 that desponding state that sometimes follows intense but 
 unsatisfied desire. At such times feeling seems to die of 
 sheer exhaustion. All had retired, and she was alone. Her 
 thoughts brooded over the state of things, but she had not 
 strength to carry her charge to Christ. The clock struck 
 11, and there was a knock on the door — must she see 
 another face? She opened, and there stood a pupil, not 
 so insensible as she had thought. Struck by the looks of 
 her teacher, she asked very tenderly: "Are you very tired?" 
 "Not very — why do you ask?" "Because I can not sleep 
 for thinking of our school, and I thought perhaps you 
 would help me to pray." The spell was broken. The dry 
 fountain flowed afresh, and with a full heart she said: 
 "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord." As an angel from 
 Heaven, that dear pupil brought strength to her, and 
 together they carried the whole family to Jesus, and then 
 retired in the peace of God, which passeth understand- 
 ing. "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" were the 
 words given her in the morning, and hardly had she 
 repeated them at prayers before three, in different parts of 
 the room, were weeping. She said little, for she felt it 
 safer to go and tell Jesus. All day long the feeling was 
 subdued and tender : no one asked a question but there was 
 stillness at the table and in the rooms. The work was done 
 well, but in silence, and the voice of prayer was gentle. 
 Tuesday passed in like stillness. Toward evening she said: 
 
44 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 "If any one wants to seek first the Kingdom of God, I will 
 see her at half past eight o'clock." At that hour one entered 
 alone, and then another and another, till the room was full. 
 She closed the door, and still they came, till she looked 
 around on twenty-three bowing down in silence. She felt 
 that they needed to hear God rather than man, and the 
 parable of the prodigal son seemed to come that evening fresh 
 from the lips of Jesus. Wednesday each lesson was recited 
 promptly and well, but tears blurred many a page, and at 
 recess many went to be alone with God. At eleven o'clock, 
 when Dr. Perkins came in to sing with them, all began to 
 sing 'Bartimeus,' but one after another stopped singing till 
 the voice of the leader was alone. He took up the Bible 
 lying before him, and read the same parable and offered 
 prayer. The noon recess had to be lengthened, for the 
 teachers could not bear to call the pupils from private com- 
 munion with God. 
 
 The mission met that afternoon in the seminary and spent 
 the time mostly in prayer. A very deep and silent work 
 followed, noted for humble penitence and simple dependence 
 on the Saviour. Most of those twenty-three began to hope 
 in the mercy of God through Christ. 
 
 It did good to the Nestorians to find three children of 
 missionaries among the converts, for when they saw them 
 also come as lost sinners to Christ, they realized as never 
 before that the children of believers also must be born again. 
 The English embassador passed through the city at this 
 time, and though he and his suite visited the Seminary, not 
 only did the pupils do credit to the school in their examina- 
 tions, but their relish for spiritual things was not impaired 
 by the episode, which in the East would ordinarily have 
 crowded out all other thoughts. 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 45 
 
 The Seminary was again blessed in 1857, and in each of 
 the four years that followed, up to 1862, it had enjoyed 
 twelve revivals, and it should be mentioned to the praise of 
 divine grace, that two-thirds of those connected with it have 
 in the judgment of charity been created anew in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
46 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FIRST FRUITS. 
 
 LET us now turn back to take a view of some of the 
 converts of these revivals. 
 The first to ask the way to heaven and to enter there, was 
 Sarah, daughter of Priest Eshoo, of Gawar. Though at first, 
 like other fathers, he regretted her coming into the world, 
 yet her strong attachment to him so won his love, that in 
 1835, when the family fled from the destruction of their 
 village by the Kurds, he carried her on his back as the 
 mother carried the younger sister. They stopped for a 
 time in Degala, and subsisted by begging. The mental 
 gifts of the father, however, brought him into notice, and 
 one day the question of Mrs. Grant, "Have you any 
 daughters for our school?" revived a half-forgotten desire 
 that Sarah might learn to read, and in 1841, when she was 
 ten years old, he sent her to the seminary. She was dark 
 eyed and slender ; also in feeble health. Yet though often 
 a great sufferer, she applied herself so diligently that she 
 soon became the best scholar in the school. The Bible was 
 the principal text book, and she was their walking concord- 
 ance. Her knowledge of the scripture teachings was even 
 more marked, and under Mrs. Harriet Stoddard she learned 
 to sing hymns very sweetly. Still she was without Christ, 
 and her health caused much anxiety. On the first Monday 
 of 1346, she said to Sanum, who she knew was also thought- 
 ful, "Sister, we ought to turn to God. Shall we ever find 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 47 
 
 a better time than when they are praying for us?" Together 
 they devoted the day to seek the Lord, as we have seen and 
 from that time she never turned back. As soon as she found 
 peace for herself, she sought to lead others to Christ. "Weak 
 as she was, she never shrunk from labor. She spent hours 
 every day in her closet, and sacredly used all her time for 
 Christ. She had much to do with the conversion of the 
 twenty that followed after her to the Saviour before she died, 
 and she did much for the women who visited the Seminary. 
 Miss Fiske never knew a young person more anxious to do 
 good. Both pupils and visitors loved to have Sarah tell them 
 the way. They said they could see it more plainly when she 
 told them. Her teacher often remonstrated with her for her 
 excessive labors, but she felt that she must be about her 
 Father's business while the day lasted. Her anxiety for her 
 father began with her own interest in salvation, and his 
 feelings were soon so tender that he could not speak of them 
 without tears. Sarah was the first to know that he had 
 found peace, and his first word with her on spiritual things 
 was telling her that he had found Christ. He was not pre- 
 pared to find her so full of humble and holy joy. Next day, 
 when urged to seek the salvation of his family, he replied, 
 "Sarah knows more about it than I do." Their previous 
 strong attachment was now a mutual love in the Lord. He 
 never felt that the day was complete if his heart had not 
 been lifted up by her prayers as well as his own. 
 
 Though her mother scoffed at first, soon she also came to 
 Christ with a younger daughter. Mr. Stocking called Sarah 
 the best theologian among the Nestorians and often said. "If 
 I want to write a good sermon, I first talk with her, and then 
 have her pray for me while I write." 
 
 In March it was seen that she must die, still she had a 
 
48 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 mission to fulfil, and her Saviour gave her grace to fulfil it. 
 In Persia victory over death had been heard of, but, till then, 
 never witnessed, and Sarah was chosen to show what it is to 
 fall asleep in Jesus. Perhaps the death-bed of no one was 
 ever watched with more eager interest. "Will Christ come 
 and receive us to himself according to his promise?'' was a 
 question they stood ready to answer according as He mani- 
 fested Himself to Sarah. The five months between her con- 
 version and her death were very precious to her friends. She 
 sometimes had long talks with Miss Fiske about Heaven. 
 She seemed to look in on its glories, only when she thought 
 of the perishing, she desired to labor longer for them, if God 
 willed. Her companions could not bear to part with 
 her. About the middle of May it was felt that she must go 
 to her family who lived near. It was a beautiful summer 
 day. When morning prayers were through, her teacher told 
 her, and she replied in a low voice, "I would like to be alone 
 a little before I go." With weary step she sought her familiar 
 closet, but it was occupied and she spent an hour in another, 
 and then was ready to go. She went supported by a 
 schoolmate on either side. Stopping in the court she turned 
 to take a last look of the dear home where she had learned of 
 Jesus, and plucking one of the roses by her side passed out. 
 
 She suffered intensely for a few days. She was not even 
 able to lie down, still every day she gathered some women 
 about her to tell them of Jesus. Her teacher often found 
 her with her Bible open, and several round her bed, to whom 
 she was explaining it. Her school-mates also loved to go 
 and pray with her. 
 
 One Saturday in June her father was called to preach in 
 Tergawer, twenty- five miles distant. He went to see what 
 Sarah would say. She said, " Go father, and I will pray for 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 19 
 
 you." Sabbath morning came and Sarah was almost home. 
 Miss Fiske once more committed her into the hands of a "very 
 present " Saviour. She had to return to her scholars, first 
 requesting the mother to send for her, when the Master came. 
 In the afternoon, in a paroxysm of suffering, she said " Call 
 my father." They reminded her where he was. "Yes, I remem- 
 ber, let him preach Christ, I can die alone." Then she said 
 "Call Miss Fiske," and her sister rose to go, but Sarah remem- 
 bered it was the hour for prayer meeting and beckoning to 
 her said, " She is in meeting now, don't call her." Per- 
 haps with that teacher present, she had not so clearly dis- 
 cerned the Lord. Her sufferings were now so great, she 
 could not speak. Then, in a clear voice, she said, "Mother 
 raise me that I may commit my spirit," for she never spoke 
 to Christ save on her knees. She forgot that good word of 
 the Lord, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice." Christ is 
 not pleased when we add to the measure of the suffering that 
 He sends, and still one feels that He is less displeased with 
 our mistakes in that direction, then when they go to the 
 opposite extreme of self indulgence. Held up by those 
 strong arms, as often before, she said, " Lord Jesus receive 
 
 " and there she stopped, prayer had ended, instead of 
 
 the last word of the earthly prayer was the beginning of the 
 heavenly adoration. While she was speaking Jesus 
 answered. The teacher had just sat down among her pupils 
 when the message came, "Sarah sleeps." She was buried 
 that same evening, (June 13) according to Eastern cus- 
 tom (Acts V. 6 and 10). The whole school followed her to 
 the grave which was near that of Mrs. Grant. The first 
 fruit of the school lies fitly by the side of her who planted that 
 tree in the garden of the Lord. Miss Fiske said, "I am glad 
 that the first to love Christ was the first to be with Him 
 
50 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 in Heaven and still love to think of her as waiting for those 
 with whom she prayed on earth." Now teacher and scholar 
 are together before the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
 
 The case of Hannah also calls for grateful mention. She 
 was the daughter of an intelligent and well-to-do Nestorian, 
 who brought her to the Seminary in 1845. Miss Fiske 
 objected to her youth, but paternal importunity prevailed. 
 As soon as her father turned to leave, she began to scream, 
 but he said she must stay and "learn wisdom." The teacher 
 took her into her lap to soothe her, but her bleeding hands 
 bore the marks of the nails of her new protege for many days. 
 She learned wisdom very slowly. She had her fits of rage 
 so often that she was sent home sometimes for weeks. In 
 the winter of 1850, she began to love the truth, yet still she 
 showed so much self-will, she was often told that if she was 
 indeed a christian, God would subdue that will. She did not 
 see it and thought they were too strict. God rectified the 
 evil in an unusual way. The premises had once been occu- 
 pied by an Oriental bath, and contained deep pits that had 
 been used to absorb the water. One evening Miss Fiske had 
 forbidden the pupils to do certain things. They assented 
 and went out, and instantly the cry rose "Hannah is in the 
 well," they led the teacher to the place saying " The earth 
 opened and swallowed her up." The covering of one of the 
 pits had given way and she had fallen about twenty feet. 
 Fortunately " there was no water in the pit," and in a few 
 days she was well, but very weak and gentle. Her own 
 account of it was, that when the rest said "We will obey our 
 teacher/' she stamped her foot saying, "I did right, and 
 will do it again," and while the words were on her lips she 
 sank into the earth. She did not know what had happened, 
 but felt that God was dealing with her, and lying there 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 51 
 
 bruised and helpless made a solemn vow to God. " Hence- 
 forth thy will, not mine." From that time she was a pattern 
 of gentleness. Her father saw the change and said " Han- 
 nah knows nothing but God's will. Should she die I would 
 know she was with Christ, she is so like Him." The school 
 learned of her to be Christ-like. She was ready to suffer 
 anything for the sake of doing good. Her father said to her 
 one day, "Badal the son of the herdman wants you to go to 
 
 the mountains with him, and wants you here. It shall 
 
 be as you say." She chose the privations of the mountain 
 home and went there June 8, 1858. She was happy in her 
 self-denying life for Jesus' sake, but her health sank under 
 her privations, and she visited her old home hoping to be 
 better, but instead she only gave another happy testimony to 
 the blessedness of knowing no will but God's, and then 
 went home. On her dying bed she sent word to Miss Fiske 
 in America. " I love to have God do just as He pleases. I 
 thank you for all your love, and especially for showing me 
 my Saviour." She died December, 1860. It is pleasant to 
 add that in 1861 her brother to whom her inheritance had 
 fallen, gave it all to carry on the work in the mountains to 
 which she had devoted her life.* 
 
 Let us turn from these to a very different character, also 
 a fruit of this same tree. In the autumn of 1845, Deacon 
 Guwergis (George) of Tergawer, brought his oldest daugh- 
 ter, then twelve years of age, to the Seminary. He was 
 notoriously and even defiantly dissolute, and Miss Fiske 
 shrank from receiving one from such a family into her flock . 
 Yet as, like her Master, she was sent not to the righteous, 
 but to the lost, she took her in. Still even then, his greed 
 was so shameless, that she was glad when he was gone. He 
 even asked her to dress his daughter in a new suit of clothes, 
 *Page 89. 
 
52 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 that he might carry home the garments she had on, but this 
 she would not do. She hoped that the winter snows would 
 protect her from his dreaded presence. In February he 
 came when many were weeping over their sins, wearing his 
 Kurdish dagger and ammunition belt, and carrying his gun, 
 and she felt that a wolf had indeed entered the fold. He 
 mocked their religious feelings, and set himself like the 
 Great Adversary to hinder the work of the Spirit. She tried 
 to parry his attacks, but she did not need to do it. Her pupils 
 were too deeply convicted of sin to notice him. His own 
 daughter at length begged him to go with her. "Don't you 
 think that I also can pray ?" and he repeated over his Syriac 
 form as a wizard mutters his incantation. His child then as 
 one newly awakened to her own guilt and the glory of the 
 power of Christ to save, implored mercy for herself and for 
 him. As she prayed for mercy on him as a sinner, he doub- 
 led up his fist to strike her, but as he said afterward, "God 
 held me back." 
 
 The native teacher, Murad Khan, then took him to his 
 own room and labored with him till late at night. Sabbath 
 found him not only unimpressed but even more aggressive 
 in his opposition. At noon Miss Fiske went to his room. 
 Ho occupied the only chair, and did not rise, so she stood 
 and tried to talk, but she might as well have talked to the 
 tempest. She then took his hand and said, "Deacon Guwergis 
 I see you will not let me speak, and I promise you I will 
 never again attempt it, unless you wish it, on this condition ; 
 that when we stand together in the great day before God, 
 you will bear witness that on this 22d day of February, 
 1846, you were faithfully warned of your danger." He did 
 not answer, but in a subdued voice said, "Let me pray." 
 The hand was withdrawn and he went into the next room, 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 53 
 
 whence soon issued a low sound, she could hardly yet 
 believe was prayer. The bell rung and she sent her ciiarge 
 alone to church, while she staid to watch the man whom she 
 feared was only plotting to plunder the premises in their 
 absence. A voice seemed at length to say, "What dost thou 
 here Elijah?" And she took her place with the rest, when 
 the door opened, and he too entered, but how changed. His 
 arms were laid aside. The folds of his large Kurdish tur- 
 ban hung down over his face, and the big tears fell silently 
 through his raised hands. Sinking into the nearest seat, his 
 head rested on the desk. After the benediction Mr. Stock- 
 ing took him to his study, and there in anguish the late 
 blasphemer cried out, "O my sins: — they are higher than the 
 mountains of Jeloo." "But," said Mr. Stocking, "if the fires 
 of hell were put out would you be troubled?" The strong 
 man bowed down in his agony, crying, "Even if there was 
 no hell, I could not bear this load of sin." That night he 
 could not sleep. In the morning Miss Fiske begged Mr. 
 Stoddard to see him, and soon he came back to tell her that 
 the dreaded Guwergis was sitting at the feet of Jesus. "My 
 great sins," and "my great Saviour" was all he could say. 
 He was gentle as a lamb and humble, and before noon left 
 for home, saying, "I must tell my people of sin and of 
 Jesus." Nothing was heard from him for two weeks when 
 Priest Eshoo found him telling his neighbors "of sin and 
 of Jesus." He had begun family prayer, and at that 
 moment was surrounded by a number weeping for their sins. 
 So changed was he, and his words so earnest, that some 
 thought him insane, but his meekness under insult amazed 
 them, and gave many their first idea of vital piety. Till 
 then, religion to them consisted in the repetition of forms, or 
 in fasting, but the transformation of character by the Spirit 
 
54 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 of God was to them a new revelation. He brought his 
 family to the city and soon came to see Miss Fiske. As 
 he opened the door, she stood on the opposite side of the 
 room, but the tears stood in his eyes as he reached out his 
 hand, sayiDg "I know you did not believe me, but you will 
 love me, will you not?" and she wondered at her lack of 
 faith. Two of his brothers also sought the Saviour, and his 
 own growth in grace surprised all that knew him. When his 
 daughter came back March 30th, an uncle came with her 
 rejoicing in Christ. Mr. Stocking asked how he had been 
 led into the kingdom and learned that he had promised his 
 brother Guwergis to spend the Sabbath with one of the native 
 teachers of the Seminary, who prayed with him till he threw 
 away his dagger as something for which he had no more use. 
 The native helpers felt that he outstripped them in the heav- 
 enly race. In April as many as nine persons in Hakkie, the 
 village of Deacon Guwergis, five of them members of his own 
 family, gave evidence of true piety, and the whole village lis- 
 tened to his preaching. He always loved the Seminary as 
 his spiritual birth place. Once on rising from his knees he 
 exclaimed, "God forgive me, I forgot to pray for the school," 
 and so knelt down again, and it was done in such simplicity 
 and sincerity that it did not call forth even a smile from 
 those that heard it. 
 
 After his conversion, the deacon devoted himself to labors 
 in the mountains. One might always see a tear and a 
 smile on his face, as he spoke of sin and Jesus. He tra- 
 versed the region many times on foot, with his Testament 
 and hymn book in his shepherd's scrip. At the foot of the 
 cliffs he would sing "Bock of Ages," and at the mountain 
 springs "There is a fountain filled with blood." He warned 
 every man night and day with tears that in Jesus was their 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 55 
 
 only hope. He died, March 12, 1856, and, as his mind 
 wandered, spoke continually of "free grace." These were 
 almost his last words. The daughter who prayed with him 
 that first Saturday was with him then, and her prayer the 
 last earthly sound he heard. 
 
 It may seem strange that one so notorious for wickedness 
 should be allowed to enter the Seminary, but Oriental ideas 
 of hospitality are very decided and to do good to a people, 
 they must feel that one is their friend. No protection from 
 government can take the place of their loving confi- 
 dence, and while help was at hand to repel violence if needed, 
 the highest usefulness required that patient love should 
 have its perfect work. 
 
 Another instance of the usefulness of the Seminary 
 among the relatives of the pupils must here be mentioned. 
 March 2, 1846, a father called to ask if his daughter was 
 among the converts. Surprised at such a question from a 
 drunkard, he told the story of his own conversion, and his 
 prayers showed him no stranger at the mercy seat. The 
 daughter had given more trouble than any in school, and 
 several times had almost been sent away, but now father 
 and daughter spent the evening together in prayer, and a 
 few days later the mother came and staid till she also came 
 to Christ. She was a sister of Priest Abraham, and had been 
 so clamorous and profane in her opposition, that for years 
 her good brother had dreaded to meet her, but now instead 
 of her blasphemy, he heard her singing the praise of his 
 and her Redeemer. 
 
56 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 DARK DAYS. 
 
 THIS mission has encountered less opposition than 
 others, but it has not been free from trial. June 19th, 
 1844, the brothers of Mar Shimon issued this order : "Be it 
 known to you all, ye readers at Seir, that if ye come not to 
 us to-morrow we will excommunicate you from our most holy 
 church. Your finger nails shall be torn out. We will hunt 
 you from village to village, and kill you if we can." Miss 
 Fiske was spending the summer there with the Seminary, 
 and it was deemed best to send the pupils home. When told 
 this they wept aloud, and their teachers wept with them. 
 The girls could hardly tear themselves away, and when they 
 did the lament arose : "We shall never hear the Word of 
 God again !" Their teacher gave them up to Christ, trust- 
 ing that He would bring them back, and others with them. 
 A German Jew said, in his broken English: "In other lands 
 I have seen much bad to missionaries, but nothing bad like 
 this, to take leedle cheeldren from words of Jesus Christ." 
 Deacon Isaac, a brother of Mar Shimon was ashamed of it. 
 Eight years after he asked leave to speak to the school, 
 and said : "Do all you can to help your teachers, for I once 
 troubled them and it has made my life bitter ever since, "and 
 the good man broke down. Then added : "I have vowed to 
 God to help Miss Fiske to the utmost of my power as 
 long as I live," and all who knew him know that he kept his 
 word. When he was first thoughtful, (1849), he heard that 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 57 
 
 a pupil was in the habit of praying for him, he insisted on 
 her praying with him, and though he had rare force of char- 
 acter, and Sarah of Tiary was more noted for devotion than 
 for mental ability, yet he learned from her in a child-like 
 spirit; another fulfillment of the Word : "A little child shall 
 lead them." He has been occasionally a most acceptable 
 teacher in the Seminary. "When Miss Fiske left, in 1858, 
 he promised her to do all in his power for her sex till she 
 came back, and next Sabbath found him teaching a class of 
 women. With us, Governors sometimes teach in the Sab- 
 bath School, but in Persia it is a very different thing for a 
 brother of the Patriarch to teach a class of women. Along 
 with unfeigned piety he had more true refinement than most 
 of his countrymen, and few showed kindness with such deli- 
 cacy. 
 
 When the infant daughter of Priest Eshoo — named Sarah, 
 after her sainted sister, — lay dying, Mar Shimon forbade her 
 burial in the cemetery. He had a mob all ready to carry 
 out his will, but she lingered on and disappointed him that 
 day. Next day she died, and the Patriarch had free course. 
 A pious carpenter, however, defied his anathema, and made 
 her coffin. The mission appealed to a former Governor, but 
 Mar Shimon paid no attention to his messages. Miss Fiske 
 wrote : "In our trouble we love to look up at the dear child 
 sweetly resting with her Saviour. May the Sabbath bring us 
 rest." But it found them still in deep waters. The Gov- 
 ernor sent to demand the digging of a grave, but the mob 
 would not allow it. It was suggested that a promise from 
 the Priest, not to preach any more, would bring relief. 
 ''Never !" was the answer : "Let my dead lie unburied. I 
 will not go back from serving Christ !" The Governor ad- 
 vised to bury in one of the villages. So in the chapel they 
 
58 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 listened to a sermon from the words "He must through much 
 tribulation enter the Kingdom of God." Then bearing the 
 little coffin and singing the 46th Psalm they passed close by 
 the door of the Patriarch and out of the city gate to the 
 green hill-side, at Seir, where they laid the little one to rest. 
 The Patriarch now commanded to break up the schools, and 
 forbade preaching in the churches. He excommunicated Mar 
 Tohanan and made common cause with the French Lazarists. 
 Deacon Guwergis boldly encountered him in his own house, 
 and avowed his purpose to go on preaching till he died. 
 "See," said Mar Shimon, "how his face shines. If he is so 
 bold before us what will he be in the mountains?" Did he 
 think of Stephen ? 
 
 Even in the Seminary the pupils were not safe on August 
 25th a message came that the brother of one was dying and 
 wanted to see her. She was willing to go, but Miss Fiske 
 learned that the brother was well, and that the messenger had 
 come from Mar Shimon's house, who had charged him to 
 hide his purpose from that Satan, Miss Fiske, and if need be, 
 take the girl by force. But the teacher knew how to guard 
 her fold. Three days later, the schoolmaster in Charbash 
 fled, wounded, from the servants of Mar Shimon, to the 
 mission, and his brother followed him, having escaped from 
 similar violence. 
 
 Mar Shimon now made common cause with the Persian 
 oppressors of his people. Dawood Khan had been appointed 
 their protector, and Mar Shimon, by promising his aid to 
 Persian efforts against the Khan, secured their co-operation 
 against the mission. 
 
 Tahya Khan, Governor of the Province, now aided Mar 
 Shimon to the utmost, and as he was brother-in-law to the 
 Shah, he had great power for evil. But in September the 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 59 
 
 Shah died, and the power of Tahya Khan perished with 
 his master. Mar Shimon also retired into Turkey and his 
 servants were put under bonds to keep the peace. 
 
 A few years later Asker Khan undertook to wear out the 
 saints of the Most High. He caused native helpers to be 
 beaten and fiued, and then denied all redress. Encouraged 
 by the Prime Minister, he defied all interference. At one 
 time he issued an order that no school should be opened 
 without his sanction, and that all teachers should report to 
 him. His attitude towards the Seminary appears in the 
 order "Allow no girls in your schools; they are for boys 
 only." But there was a power that said to this flood of 
 wrath, also, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further; and 
 here shall thy proud waves be stayed," for Asker Khan fell 
 under Kurdish daggers, and the billows were quiet. Not, 
 however, before much evil had been wrought. Among others, 
 Sanum, the wife of Joseph, suffered in the poisoning of her 
 children, by a neighbor; but, though arsenic was found in 
 the food, though a portion of it caused convulsions and death 
 to the animal that ate it, though no one else had access to 
 it, and a Jewess testified that the guilty party had recently 
 applied to her husband for arsenic, Asker Khan not only re- 
 fused to investigate but insulted Joseph, beat his aged 
 father, and told the villagers to shoot Joseph if he came 
 again to the village. 
 
 A royal order was procured commanding investigation, 
 but the criminals were only detained for a few days, and as 
 they would not confess, Asker Kahn proposed that the mis- 
 sion should intercede for their release, and when they de- 
 clined to do so, declared that had he known that beforehand, 
 he would not have touched the case, and so dismissed it. 
 
60 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PRAYERFULNESS OF NESTORIAN CONVERTS. 
 
 THIS has been so marked as to call for special notice. 
 In 1846 the prayers in the Boys' Seminary were very 
 remarkable. Some spent several hours a day in prayer, and 
 their language was both intense and scriptural. At one 
 time they beg that the dog may have a crumb from the chil- 
 dren's table, again with the publican they smite upon their 
 breasts. Now in the far country they cry for the bread of 
 their Father's house, and again sinking in the waves, they 
 cry, " Lord save, we perish," or they desire to build on the 
 rock of ages though tempests roar and torrents rage around 
 them. 
 
 Mr. Stoddard once saw three men riding in the road, their 
 horses went at random, and their heads were bare in the 
 cold March wind. He took them at first for dervishes, but 
 on coming nearer heard the voice of prayer. The eyes of 
 all were closed, and when one stopped, the next went on. 
 He left them undisturbed. He once heard an old man 
 praying in the church by himself in a low tone thus: "Our 
 Father in Heaven — Always going after Satan — O! Lord 
 Jesus Christ — Hallelujah — Forever and ever Amen." The 
 prayer was very broken, but comprehensive. He came to 
 God as his father. He confessed his sin. He cried to 
 Christ as his only helper. He praised God for His mercy 
 and then closed in the usual form. 
 
 Mar Ogin of Ishtazin when in great pain, some times used 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 61 
 
 words like these : "0 Lord Jesus, Thou art the King of 
 glory, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Thou art great 
 and holy, and merciful. I am a sinner, condemned, my face 
 is black, my bones are rotten. O Lord Jesus, have mercy 
 upon me, poor and blind, and naked and miserable. Lord 
 Jesus Christ, I am vile, I am lost, but do thou remember 
 me." 
 
 In their longing for Christ they would say, " Blessed Sav- 
 iour we will cling to the skirts of thy garments, and hope for 
 mercy till our hands are cut off." A common petition was, 
 " O Lord never leave us to deny Thee, even the blood of our 
 necks," most expressive words in a land where so many crim- 
 inals are beheaded. In one village where they brought their 
 offering every Sabbath, some poor women who used to bring 
 eggs, offered this prayer: "O Lord our hens are not lay- 
 ing, please show us some other way by which we can earn 
 our penny." One having occasion to pass through the Semi- 
 nary, heard as follows: " We hang over a lake of fire with 
 a heavy burden on us, by a single hair, and that almost 
 broken. Again we are in a ship burned almost down to the 
 water, the flames are just seizing on us. O God, have 
 mercy! O Lamb of God have mercy on us." 
 
 Is it strange that missionaries thought it a privilege to 
 pray in Syriac when they had such fervent spirits with whom 
 to pray? 
 
 The last communion service before Miss Fiske left Per- 
 sia, occurred in May, 1858, one of the finest of the charming 
 days in Oroomiah at that season. Mr. Stoddard had entered 
 into rest, and his widow with Dr. Perkins and family and 
 Miss Fiske were to sit down with the Nestorian converts at 
 the table of the Lord, for the last time on earth. All who 
 had been connected with the Seminary were to lodge there ? 
 
62 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 so as to gather together the household once more in the old 
 home. As yet none knew that she was going, for she would 
 have nothing turn away their thoughts from Christ. As 
 many as sixty or seventy were present. When all had gath- 
 ered in the school-room she asked the Master to preside over 
 the meeting, and gave the words "Looking unto Jesus" as the 
 key-note of the occasion. All felt that they sat together in 
 heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and their eyes were opened 
 to the fullness of his words, "There am I in the midst of you." 
 They were invited to speak freely of their joys and sorrows, 
 that together they might lay them all on their burden bearer. 
 The first to speak was Hanee, one of the two brought by Mar 
 Yohanan at the beginning. She had just buried her only child, 
 and holding her arms as though the little one still rested on 
 them, she said : "Sisters, at our last communion you saw my 
 little babe in these arms. It is nbt here now. I have laid it 
 into the arms of Jesus, and come to tell you of a sweet as well 
 as a bitter in affliction. When the rod is sent, let us not only 
 kiss, but press it to our lips. When I stood by that little 
 open grave I said : The time I have given to my babe I will 
 give to souls, and I try to do it; pray for me." (After the 
 death of her child she used to gather the women in the room 
 where it died, and talk and pray with them. ) When she 
 ceased all were in tears. The leader said: "Who will pray! " 
 and Sanum, whose children were poisoned, led in prayer, as 
 few could pray for childless mothers. There was perfect 
 stillness during the prayer, save as the sweet voice of her 
 own babe sometimes added pathos to it. A short pause 
 followed, and to the surprise of all, the voice of Nazloo 
 was heard in another part of the room, — for they had sup- 
 posed her on her death-bed: "Sisters I have come back from 
 the brink of the grave ! May I tell you that it is very differ- 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 63 
 
 ent being a christian in this pleasant school room, and 
 being a christian there. Are you sure that you are on the 
 rock Christ Jesus ?" One of the early pupils who had come 
 many miles that day, said : "I could think but one thought all 
 the way. 'Freely, ye have received; freely give.' We have 
 certainly received freely. How much have we given. Can 
 we not do something for souls?" They were then asked if 
 they were ready to search for them and lead them to Christ. 
 Many pledged themselves to the work, and to bring the names 
 of those labored with, to the next communion, that all might 
 pray. for them; and the first letter Miss Fiske opened in Bos- 
 ton contained the names of those with whom each had prayed 
 and labored. As many as twelve spoke a few words, and 
 more than that number led in prayer during the two hours 
 they were together. After dinner, class prayer meetings 
 were held, and the voice of prayer arose in nearly every 
 room. The chapel bell was unnoticed, and each company 
 had to be summoned separately to church. There Miss 
 Fiske led each to a seat, that they might be together, and 
 seated herself behind them. She counted ninety-three 
 sisters in Christ before her, and recalled the time when she 
 had not one among them all. No wonder she inwardly ex- 
 claimed : "What hath God wrought !" There was only one 
 among the ninety-three with whom she had not prayed, and 
 that evening, as she was devising how to bring it about, the 
 Lord sent her unexpectedly to her room, and they also bowed 
 together in prayer. Thirty-nine converts, six of them from 
 the Seminary, were added that day to the communicants. 
 
 The day Miss Fiske left Oroomiah, many of her pupils 
 met to bid her good-bye. They asked : "Could we not have 
 one more prayer meeting before you go ?" She said she 
 could not lead their devotions then. "You need not," was 
 
64 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 the answer, "we will carry you to-day." Seventy were soon 
 in her room, which they called "The Bethel." "Blest be the 
 tie that binds," was sung, and six prayers were offered. Esli 
 asked, that when Elijah went up they might all see the 
 chariot and catch the falling mantle, and not sit down to weep, 
 but smite Jordan, and passing over, go to work. She then 
 reminded Christ of his promise not to leave them orphans, 
 (John, 14:8), and begged him not only to come, but to 
 abide with them when their teacher was gone. She asked 
 that in their long land journey the sun might not smite the 
 missionaries, but that he would spread a table for them in 
 the wilderness, and give his angels charge to keep them in 
 their going over the precipitous roads. That when they 
 passed through the rivers, the waters might not overflow 
 them. That the Angel of the Lord might ever encamp 
 round their tents; that on the fire-ship, (steamers from Tre- 
 bizond to Constantinople, and thence to Smyrna), the flame 
 might not kindle upon them, and when on the winged ship, 
 that He would keep them in the hollow of His hand, and 
 bring them to their desired haven. She then asked that the 
 aged mother of their teacher might be spared to fold her 
 daughter in her arms before she departed in peace. Here 
 she paused, and then added in a more tender tone : "May her 
 dust not mingle with her father's dust, but may she come 
 back to us, till her dust shall mingle with her children's 
 dust, and with them go up to meet the Lord." 
 
 One, who before conversion was very obstinate and rude, 
 in writing to Miss Fiske after her return, said : "I remem- 
 ber how you used to put your arms round me and tell me ■ 
 how Christ died, not for friends, but for enemies, like me. 
 I did not understand it then, but now, I cannot sufficiently 
 express my gratitude. I know you are happy with your 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 65 
 
 mother, though your heart is here, and she is happy in the 
 sight of your face ; yet these earthly meetings are soon over, 
 but that meeting with the risen Lamb, and with God, our 
 Father, will be more blessed and unending. If separations, 
 too, are so trying now, what must be those of the last day ? 
 May I not be separated from you then. We miss you much, 
 but the Teacher who is better than all has taught us this 
 winter. The Lord Jesus has watered us with heavenly rain. 
 We waited for the promise of the Father, and now, when we 
 retire from the school-room, in many parts of the building 
 two girls are found praying together. I have also selected 
 two women to pray for, and some of the women of our village 
 sit at the feet of Jesus." 
 
 In 1846 two pupils spent a night alternately praying for 
 their brothers. They felt ''We will not let thee go except 
 thou bless us." True, the missionaries insisted on regular 
 hours of sleep. Yet one writes : "Sometimes I have gone 
 to their cold closets to induce them to stop, but the fervor of 
 their prayers has oftener driven me to mine.'' There 
 were but few closets, and often three or four might be 
 seen waiting their turn. If they only had some of those at 
 home that are seldom entered ! The Bible of one was found 
 open at the 51st Psalm, and no part of the large page was 
 free from the marks of tears. 
 
 A poor woman came one day weeping for her sins, and 
 sat down on the floor. The teacher was soon at her side, 
 pointing her to Christ. She prayed with her, and asked 
 her to pray. ''But I don't know your prayers." "Don't try 
 to pray like anybody else, but just tell God how you feel, 
 and what you want — " "May I say to God just what is in my 
 heart?" When assured that she might, she fell on her face, 
 saying between her sobs, "O, God, I am not fit even to be 
 
66 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 an old broom to sweep with." This was the most worthless 
 thing the poor woman could think of, and she soon learned 
 that His grace is sufficient for us. 
 
 A good man brought his wife to spend a few days in the 
 Seminary. Then he came again to get her, and while he 
 was talking with Miss Fiske, she was passing through the 
 room without seeing him. But he saw her, and reached out 
 his hand. She put her hand in his, and when he asked, 
 "Is Christ become beautiful ?" answered, looking up in his 
 face, with a very gentle "I think so," and then they went 
 into the teacher's room to pray together. 
 
 In 1846, after a pleasant evening in Geog Tapa, among 
 enquirers, Hanee came and asked Miss Fiske, "Would you 
 like to be alone?" It was the first time a Nestorian had 
 asked her that question, and it thrilled her heart like the 
 first voice of a native woman that she heard in prayer. To 
 use her own words: "I followed the dear child to the best 
 closet she could give me — a manger in which she had spread 
 fresh hay, saying, as she turned to go, 'stay just as long as 
 you like.' It was not her fault if I did not there meet 
 Him, once laid in a manger for us." 
 
 At first Miss Fiske prayed alone for her school, but before 
 she left Persia, two-thirds of her pupils had relatives who 
 prayed for their salvation. One morning in 1856, a mother 
 walked three miles through the snow to ask if there was 
 any special religious interest in the school. "Why do you 
 ask?" replied Miss Fiske. "I have been thinking of you 
 continually for two or three days, and last night I dreamed 
 that God was visiting you by his Holy Spirit, so when I 
 woke, I rose and baked, and hurried away. I was so 
 anxious about my daughter; can I see her?" When she 
 was told that her daughter was among the enquirers the 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 67 
 
 night before, she sank down where she stood, weeping for 
 joy. The heart of the teacher grew strong, feeling that the 
 mothers were praying with her. This one went to another 
 room to see her daughter, and a missionary could not restrain 
 his tears as he listened to her earnest prayer, saying: 
 "This is more to me than anything I have seen in Persia." 
 A father once wrote: "Yesterday I invited some friends to 
 my house, and we prayed for the school, and while praying 
 for you, we felt our own sins very much, and cried to God 
 to save us from their power." Nor were the pupils lacking 
 in interest for their friends who were out of Christ. During 
 the summer vacation in 1850 Hanee, who used to spend 
 several hours a day praying for her mother, so pressed her 
 to come to Christ, that one day she answered roughly: 
 "Stop your praying and weeping for me; you will cry your- 
 self blind." "O, mother," was the answer, "I would gladly 
 become blind, if thereby you might be brought to Jesus." 
 
 The members of the Seminary were specially interested 
 in the monthly concert. On that Monday they wanted two 
 or three meetings, and in 1846 it was hard to induce them 
 to study. The voice of intercession for the world was heard 
 all day long, now all together, now in little companies of 
 five or six, and again each alone, they pressed the same 
 request. 
 
 In April, not satisfied with an extra meeting, they were 
 induced to close it near sunset, only by the promise of 
 another like meeting next day. They wrote to Mt. Holyoke 
 Seminary: "The monthly concert is a very sweet day to us, 
 we love no other so well except the Sabbath." 
 
 In January, 1849, they were very earnest in prayer, mostly 
 for themselves, as unfit to pray for others. Up to the 29th 
 only two or three of the unconverted showed any interest, 
 
68 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 but that night many were so distressed for their sins, they 
 could not retire to rest. Christians were praying for others 
 without hope, and many of these last were crying for mercy. 
 One began, "0, Lord, throw us a rope, for we are out in the 
 sea on a single plank, and wave after wave is dashing over 
 us," and their whole spirit and manner corresponded to their 
 strong figurative language. 
 
 The work extended to the villages. From Degala, Deacon 
 Joseph wrote that even young children heard their parents 
 pray so much, that they also did the same. The women 
 also met frequently by themselves. "One day I led some 
 men to a place, where they could hear women praying within 
 the house, and they begged me to teach them also how 
 to come to God." 
 
 Among a people so excitable, the missionaries avoided 
 appeals to the emotions, though the conscientious lives of 
 those who prayed, showed that they were sincere. 
 
 On the evening of the second Sabbath in Jan., 1850, Miss 
 Fiske did not feel well, and remained in her room alone. 
 The door opened gently, after the prayer meeting was over, 
 and a little group passed through very quietly. She rose 
 to follow, when she heard several in earnest prayer. She 
 turned to the stairs, and there the same sound came up from 
 many closets. What did it mean? There had been nothing 
 unusual in the meeting, and she felt that it was from above. 
 It was late before all retired, and they resumed the same 
 employment in the early morning. That week domestic 
 duties were performed earlier than usual, and thoroughly, 
 and then they hurried to their closets, in which some spent 
 five hours each day of the week. Saturday afternoon was 
 devoted by several to prayer for a blessing on the morrow, 
 and a blessed Sabbath ensued. In the morning service all 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 69 
 
 were very tender. At dinner many seats were empty. No 
 voice was heard that day but that of prayer. Miss Fiske 
 never knew such a Sabbath, neither before nor since. In 
 the afternoon the feeling was overpowering. There was no 
 request for prayer, but unbroken silence and the perfect 
 performance of every duty, without a word spoken. Some 
 asked to be excused from supper, but at length all were 
 seated at the table. The blessing was asked, and the stew- 
 ard began to help them, but no plate was touched, for even 
 the uninterested gazed in wonder. Their teacher said: "I 
 am just as sure that the Lord would have you eat as that He 
 would have you pray, and I beg you to eat in order to have 
 strength to pray." This argument had power, and they si- 
 lently withdrew to make the most of their renovated strength. 
 
 For two months each day proved that these prayers were 
 heard. There was less excitement but no loss of interest, to 
 the close of the term. The sustained prayerfulness of 
 those months surprised their teachers. Prayer was the latest 
 sound of the evening, the watchword of midnight, and the 
 lark song of the dawn. One girl, nine years of age, would 
 retire only when allowed to rise and pray, if she awoke 
 through the night, and about 3 o'clock every morning, her 
 earnest petitions awoke her teachers. 
 
 The hours of social prayer were full of tenderness. They 
 seemed to press close to the Mercy Seat. The school, their 
 parents and friends were all lovingly remembered. The 
 hour always seemed too short, and though of varied charac- 
 ter, always of thrilling interest. One moment they professed 
 an overwhelming sense of sin, as committed against a Holy 
 God, and the next offered a petition that the Holy One would 
 look on Golgotha and bid them live. Again the sense of 
 manifold sin prompts the cry: "But we fear our sins have 
 
70 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 covered Golgotha out of sight ! Oh, lift not the Mercy Seat 
 from off the Holy Ark, to look on the law we have broken; 
 but look into the grave of Jesus and bid us live !" 
 
 Their labors for their unconverted schoolmates, and for 
 visitors, were full of Christ. The hour after supper was usu- 
 ally spent in personal labor from room to room, and the 
 sounds then heard on all sides made it delightful to be in a 
 strange land for Jesus' sake. Their teacher desired more 
 silent devotion, but Mr. Stoddard feared to have it checked, 
 lest the spirit of prayer should be lost through the inter- 
 ference, and some things looked that way. There was one 
 who spent hours daily in her closet, but her teacher heard all 
 she said. So at a fitting opportunity, in a very gentle way, 
 she suggested a change. "I will try to pray more quietly, but 
 I never thought that I was heard," That night her voice was 
 not heard, but her prayer was very short, and after midnight 
 the teacher was awakened by the voice of prayer on the flat 
 earthen roof. She stepped out quietly, and there was the sup- 
 pliant wrapped in a blanket thanking God for a place to pray 
 in. She had no heart to interfere further, and Mr. Stoddard 
 was much amused at her success. In another case, fearing 
 for the health of her pupil, she led the physician to the outside 
 of the door, but neither did he venture to interrupt such 
 communion with God. 
 
 Three days in the week meetings were held with women 
 and were well attended. The older pupils went that 
 they might learn evangelistic work, and both their prayers 
 and modest counsels were appropriate and to edification. 
 
 Several, at this time, were hopefully converted, among 
 them a girl whose mother had suffered much for Christ. 
 Often, on returning from evening meeting, has that mother 
 been kept out an hour in a piercing winter wind, and 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 71 
 
 been beaten besides, but she never denied her Lord. Her 
 friends said that the conversion of her child was the answer 
 to her prayers and faithful endurance. 
 
 At the close of the term a prayer meeting in each room 
 continued till the last moment. Even those without hope 
 clung to the others and begged for their prayers. 
 
 There is one connection of this work with prayer that 
 must not be overlooked, and that is the connection with the 
 prayers offered in a distant land. While those two enquirers 
 on that first Monday of 1846 were making closets among 
 the wood in the cellar, it is distinctly remembered by some, 
 that Mary Lyon said that morning "We must pray more for 
 Miss Fiske and her school." Her words were heeded, and 
 the answer noted when they heard of what took place in 
 Persia that day. Almost the same things might be said of 
 the same day in 1847 and 1849. The revival of 1856 
 began unexpectedly, but, when on the night of February 17, 
 that pupil could not sleep because the whole school lay on 
 her heart, and at midnight sought the help of her teacher in 
 intercession, letters from America showed that they were not 
 wrestling alone. In the first week of February, 1859, meet- 
 ings were held every evening in Mt. Holyoke Seminary, to 
 pray for the school in Oroomiah. Miss Fiske was then in 
 South Hadley, and a letter from Miss Rice written that 
 week says, "God is with us, souls are seeking Christ, and I 
 am so strengthened for labor that I am sure Christians are 
 praying for us more than they did last month." 
 - The monthly concert of prayer for missions is not the 
 unmeaning form, or the barren service that some think it is. 
 Well does a missionary say: "I have so often felt that I was 
 reaping in answer to the prayers of those at home, that my 
 heart is full, and my first and last word is 'Pray for us.' " 
 
72 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 The review of monthly concerts in heaven will make some 
 startling revelations, little looked for even by some of their 
 regular attendants. 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 73 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE MOUNTAIN NESTORIANS. 
 
 IT is impossible to give a history of the mountaineers or 
 of missionary work among them. We can only give some 
 hints of the connection between them and the Seminary. As 
 the Seminary could not enter the mountains, God brought 
 the mountains to it. The massacre of 1843 sent fugi- 
 tives to the plains both East and West of their devastated 
 homes. Near the close of the year a wretched group came 
 asking for "the lady who teaches Nestorian girls." She saw 
 three before her and replied: "Silver and gold we have not, 
 but we will give you a home for these." This was not what 
 they wanted, but while the parents debated the matter under 
 the tall sycamores, the little ones, quick to respond to kind- 
 ness, staid with the stranger. By and by the father and 
 mother gave them leave to stay till they returned to Tiary, 
 and the announcement called forth a very tender "thank you" 
 from the girls. They were taken in, washed, clothed and 
 fed, and though at first they knew neither the alphabet nor 
 good manners, they made good progress in both. Better 
 still, Sarah and Nazee were among the converts of 1846, and 
 Heleneh was among those of 1848. 
 
 The last days of the spring term, 1849, were full of inter 
 est. The teachers did not understand it then, but now they 
 see that God was preparing his first witnesses for their work 
 in that difficult field. Sarah had long been known as "the 
 praying Sarah," her mind was not so gitted as some, but she 
 
74 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 prayed with all prayer and supplication in the spirit as Dea- 
 con Isaac could testify. At this time the prospect of vaca- 
 tion instead of diverting from prayer, only produced more 
 intense earnestness. Some of the older pupils were unwill- 
 ing to go away till they had prayed with each one in the 
 school alone. On the last morning they separated in a very 
 prayerful spirit. The quiet of the hour seemed heavenly. 
 Not a loud voice, heavy step, or slamming door was heard, 
 all was sacredly still. The lambs were sent out from the 
 fold with peculiar anxiety. 
 
 Some were to go into families where they would find no 
 christian fellowship, but much and bitter opposition ; others 
 to villages equally destitute of Christian sympathy ; and as 
 they went forth the prayer arose from full hearts, that God 
 himself would be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the 
 places where they went. But while their thoughts were on 
 those belonging to the plain, God had in view those who 
 were going forth to years of separation or even life -long 
 exclusion from the means of grace. 
 
 That evening, after the rest had gone, Miss Fiske heard 
 intercession for the absent ones as late as ten o'clock, and 
 fearing for the health of the suppliant, she went to advise 
 her to retire ; but as she listened to her strong crying for 
 each of the school by name, she could not disturb her. Sarah, 
 though her teacher did not know it, was even then suffering. 
 Next day she was worse, and for a week was dangerously 
 sick. She felt disappointed at first, when she found God was 
 calling her back to health, but said: " Thy will, not mine, 
 be done." 
 
 April came and a scarcity in the plains drove the fugitives 
 back to their mountain home. It was hoped the child- 
 ren might remain, but the parents were only too glad to get 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 75 
 
 their daughters away from influences they abhorred. It 
 was hard for the children to go. It was no less hard for 
 their friends to think of these lambs as at the mercy of wild 
 beasts, far from human help. Even if they died, years 
 might elapse before the fact could be known in Oroomiah, 
 and so communion with God was the only source of comfort. 
 When they left, the whole school came together for the part- 
 ing prayer. The three went to bid farewell to their closets, 
 and only He who seeth in secret knows how they prayed. 
 After a few scripture words of comfort the teachers com- 
 mended them to God. Then a pupil proposed that all who 
 would pledge themselves to remember them in every prayer, 
 should join hands around them and give their pledge to 
 God. About twenty thus continued in prayer till the last 
 moment, and as the three passed out, they could speak but 
 one word, "The pledge." For years after, every prayer in 
 the seminary asked for blessings on "our sisters in Tiary." 
 
 Her teacher had often seen the large quarto page of Sarah's 
 Testament wet with her tears. After she left she found 
 the whitewash of her closet wall marked in the same way. 
 She did not mention it, lest undue sacredness should attach 
 to the place, and yet she would not obliterate marks so full 
 of comfort to her own heart. Sarah had gone but a little 
 way before she begged leave to retire a little from the road 
 to pray. And so weeping and praying they went into a den of 
 lions. We shall see persecution beating pitilessly on them, 
 like their own mountain storms, but we shall also see the 
 Hearer of prayer preserving them unharmed ; and if we hear 
 less from Sarah, it may be because the things to be known about 
 her will be heard more peacefully in that place where the 
 faithful unto death receive the crown of life. 
 
 Nothing was heard from them till October, 1850, when 
 
76 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 Yonan and Khainis went to seek them. They spent a Sab- 
 bath in the house of Nazee, but she was from home. They 
 write. "We preached thrice to large congregations. They 
 brought us her Testament to preach from, and as the result of 
 her teachings, we find them excelling other places in knowl- 
 edge of the Gospel. Monday she came about noon, and how 
 can we describe the joy oi; that meeting ? Most of the follow- 
 ing night was spent in sweet Christian communion with her. 
 We wondered at the respect shown her. We longed to pray 
 with her, but custom here forbade it. When we bade her good- 
 bye she said, 'Here is my love for my teachers, my school- 
 mates, and all that know me. Tell them to pray that God 
 would keep me in this place of temptation.' — We cannot read 
 that unmoved. She asks neither for exemption from trial 
 nor comfort in it, but for victory over it. — 'We left her 
 looking after us till we were out of sight, and wiping away 
 her tears." They say somewhat the same of Heleneh, but 
 Sarah they did not see. She was in another village, and her 
 husband, whom she had been forced to marry, would not 
 allow her to see them. 
 
 Mr. Coan visited Tiary in August, 1851. He crossed the 
 Zab at Chumba on two long poplar trees, and Nazee stood 
 on the bank to welcome him; then while she went to prepare 
 a place the Malik took him to his house. Disappointed, she 
 followed to treasure up every word and staid to converse on 
 spiritual things until near midnight. She is persecuted by 
 her own mother and ungodly neighbors, for she is a shining 
 light. Some friends in America sent her clothing, but her 
 neighbors tore it in pieces before her. She only prayed for 
 them. She expected fresh insults because of this visit, but 
 prayed that nothing might separate her from the love of 
 Christ. Long before day she sought Mr. Coan again to 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 77 
 
 converse on the things of Christ, her eyes filled -with tears. 
 When they parted at the river-side, he pointed her to the 
 words, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden," 
 and in broken accents commended her to Him that uttered 
 them. 
 
 In September, 1861, Yonan again visited the mountains, 
 and in a village of Tiary, where some two thousand were eat- 
 ing, drinking and carousing, Heleneh recognized him at once. 
 They talked from morning till near sunset, and though they 
 might not go alone to pray, yet in sight of the crowd they 
 approached the mercy seat. The spectators little dreamed to 
 whom they were speaking. 
 
 Nazee they found two days after ; a widow with two chil- 
 dren. She was poor ; her house had been burned, but her Tes- 
 tament was saved. She gave them a letter which she had 
 carried about for ten years, waiting for an opportunity to 
 send it. Next day brought them to the home of Sarah, and 
 though she had to leave that night for a distant village, they 
 were able to pray together, and Yonan was happy to find 
 that she too retained the love of Christ in her heart. 
 
 The following are extracts from Nazee' s letter to friends 
 in Middlebury, Vermont, which she had retained so 
 long: "Know that more than two years ago I left 
 the seminary. I did not wish to leave, for I had learned 
 very imperfectly what the Gospel teaches about our Lord 
 Jesus Christ; but my mother was not willing that J should 
 stay. Dear sisters, when I take your letter in my hands, I 
 long to fly and behold your faces in the body, but the will 
 of the Lord, not mine, be done. When I look within and 
 see no place worthy to thank God for His great grace, I 
 liken myself to the slothful servant ; yet though I have not 
 done the will of my Savior, I hope in him that I shall serve 
 
78 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 him as long as I live. -Though we are unworthy we should 
 increase our diligent efforts and prayers that the king- 
 dom of God may come, and His will be done on earth as it 
 is done in Heaven. Beloved sisters, I am not worthy to 
 thank you, and still less to thank God who has led you to 
 show me such kindness, yet greatly do I thank you. I have 
 one request to make ; that every time you bow to the God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you will pray for me, 
 for I am in want of all things. Remember also my mother 
 and all my friends. From your unworthy and sinful sister, 
 Nazee, of Tiary." 
 
 Mrs. Labaree in her report of work for women in Oroomiah 
 made in October, 1885, says: "Thirty-six years ago Nazee 
 of Tiary, had been taught a short time in the seminary and 
 now we hear of her holding firmly to her faith in Christ 
 though surrounded by darkness which may be felt, and with 
 no human sympathy. Through all these years she has 
 braved the ridicule of rough men who scoff at a woman who 
 can read. Taking her Bible with her to the sheep-folds she 
 allows no day to pass without reading it. She has taught 
 her daughter to read and has tried to teach others. Even 
 her enemies bear witness to her gentle spirit. 1 ' 
 
 In a letter dated April 1, 1887, she writes: "Nazee is a 
 simple-minded warm-hearted old woman, who has kept her 
 faith, rather, who has been kept by the power of God under 
 the most adverse circumstances. Seven or eight years ago 
 she unexpectedly appeared in Oroomiah and staid several 
 months that she might renew her acquaintance with spir- 
 itual things. We all felt that in doing for her, we were giving 
 a cup of cold water to one of Jesus Christ's little ones. Of 
 Heleneh and Sarah I know nothing. One of them I think 
 is dead." This last sentence throws a vivid light on the in- 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PEPSI A, 79 
 
 accessible seclusion of those mountain homes, and magni- 
 fies the grace that has kept weak, helpless women, steadfast 
 amid the merciless hate of cruel men, protracted through so 
 many years. 
 
 Mrs. Labaree, in the report already quoted, gives some 
 additional glimpses of the state of things there. She says: 
 "At the last meeting (1884) in Seir, Kemat, wife of Werda 
 gave a report of her two years' work in Tiary, and her simple 
 statements of the degradation of the mountain women greatly 
 touched her hearers. The ignorance and superstition of the 
 people almost defies description. The men often say that 
 woman has no part in the resurrection, and the women them- 
 selves have no knowledge of a future life. With the great- 
 est surprise they heard about God, and the story of Christ 
 seemed so wonderful to them, that they could not believe it, 
 especially that he should care for them, and be their Saviour. 
 At first they only listened to mock, but some now come to 
 her and ask to hear again about that wonderful Saviour. 
 Their only idea of religion is to merit heaven by the strict 
 observance of fasts, and they were so horrified by her non- 
 observance of them, that they tried to drive her and her hus- 
 band away, lest God should punish the whole village for 
 such sacrilege! They were bitterly persecuted, and their 
 lives threatened. The power of a holy life is seen in the 
 respect now shown them, and in the increasing readiness to 
 hear them. She has a strong attachment for her new home 
 and work, and does not think its hardships and privations 
 worth the mention. They have gone back to Tiary, and 
 with them another graduate of the seminary, recently mar- 
 ried to a mountain helper. Misky from Bass, has also grad- 
 uated, and returned to her home this summer. 
 
 Even as far back as 1858, at the June monthly concert 
 
80 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 four graduates were present with their husbands on their way 
 to the mountains. Guly, wife of Yohanan, who had already 
 spent one year in Little Jeloo. Nargis, wife of Khamis 
 who had spent the winter alone near Amadia was now going 
 with him to Gawar. Hannah was going with Badal to the 
 same district and Eneya the wife of Shlemon his associate 
 "was expecting to leave in a few days.' 1 
 
 Guly wrote the following account of her conversion to 
 Miss Fiske: " The first four weeks of the revival I did not 
 realize that I was lost but afterwards my sins were round about 
 me like dark clouds. One night I went to Miss Rice to get 
 her to pray with me. I did not know how to find Christ. 
 She told me, but all that night I saw no light. I was almost 
 in despair. In the morning the sun rose pleasantly, but it 
 was night to me, for I had no portion in God. I could not 
 read in my class, but went to my room resolved not to leave 
 it till I had some token that Christ was mine. I brought 
 nothing in my hands but my sins, which were like mount- 
 ains. I remembered that word, ' Though your sins be as 
 scarlet, they shall be as white as snow,' and felt that God 
 alone could forgive me. With earnest longing I laid my soul 
 into the hands of Jesus. I heartily engaged to serve him 
 all my life, and in prayer I sought his help. Then I saw 
 light, as though he were present, and I did not wish to rise 
 from my knees, so blessed was that communion. Since 
 then I hope, but sometimes fear I may be deceived. Yet, 
 daily, Christ is more precious, and though old Adam is not 
 dead, yet in the strength of God I will resist him. My dear 
 mother in Christ, my desire is to please God and live for 
 Him, and not for myself. I cannot say that I shall never 
 sin, for I am weak, and my foe is strong, but I seek help 
 from Him who himself was tempted, and can succor me." 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 81 
 
 Besides those already mentioned, Oshana and Sarah have 
 labored in Amadia. This Sarah is daughter of Priest Abra- 
 ham of Geog Tapa, and was one of the earliest pupils of the 
 seminary. She was hopefully converted in 1846. In 1849 her 
 father was sent to labor in Ardeshai, one of the most wicked 
 villages of the plain. Great opposition Avas made by the vil- 
 lage to his coming, and his own wife did much to hinder his 
 going, but Sarah did all in her power to encourage him, and 
 it was a letter from her that decided him to go. She spent 
 all her vacations there helping him, and after she graduated 
 in 1850, besides a day school there, she had a Bible class on 
 the Sabbath with the women, and on Friday sent out her 
 pupils to gather them to a meeting in the evening. She 
 thus led several to Christ. Her labors were very system- 
 atic. She conversed with one scholar every day, and was noted 
 for her tact and success. Others might act from impulse and 
 soon tire, but her activity was from principle and therefore 
 enduring. Faithful in admonition, she was also noted for gen- 
 tleness. She wrote to Miss Fiske, "Away from my Christian 
 friends I am sometimes sad, but I am not greater than Him 
 who left heaven to come to earth, and I am grateful for a 
 corner where I may serve so good a master. Come and spend 
 the Sabbath with me if you can. If not, pray much and 
 often for these poor women. Forty or fifty of them come to 
 meeting, and twenty-two receive the truth." She was in the 
 habit of studying the Bible with her father. Notice how 
 she asks prayer not for her own comfort, but for these poor 
 women. 
 
 A letter to Miss Fiske, in 1859, gives a good idea of her spirit. 
 "Beloved the good news of revivals in your land, rouses us to 
 warmer zeal. Shall we not also prepare the way of the Lord ? 
 We know from the blessings here this winter that Christians 
 
82 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 with you are praying for us, for the work of the Lord 
 advances, both on the plain and in the mountains. Here in 
 Seir the women say: "Though we have had revivals before, 
 yet never have the words of God had such effect." Mrs. 
 Cochran and I have good meetings with them. I am very 
 happy in laboring for them one by one. A part of them 
 are covenanting to be the Lord's. We ask the Lord to 
 strengthen them to keep that covenant, and entreat you 
 to unite your prayers with ours." 
 
 In May she visited Tehoma and thus describes the jour- 
 ney: "Through the favor of our Heavenly Father, I have 
 entered these mountains rejoicing to labor for my people. I 
 am happy that my father and friends favored my com- 
 ing. Every step of the way my heart has been led to praise 
 my God and thank my teachers, who brought me, so weak 
 and unworthy, to labor amid these desolations. All the way, 
 your counsels have been of great benefit to me. You will be 
 glad to know that the door here is wide open ; pray the Lord 
 of the harvest to send forth laborers. 
 
 We left Oroomiah, May 6 ; reached Memikan on the 8th, 
 and stayed three days. On our first Sabbath I met the 
 women. — Sarah was here again in 1885 and found many open 
 doors. — May 12 we went up to the tops of the snowy mount- 
 ains of Gawar. The cold obliged us to wrap our faces as 
 in January. On the other side we found it warmer, and 
 spent the night at Boobawa, where Yohanan and Guly live. 
 They were absent laboring in Khananis. Only a few came 
 to preaching. The people are very wild and hard. They 
 said: "Yohanan preaches and we revile." May 13 men lay 
 in wait and plundered us after we had crossed the river, but 
 afterwards, of their own accord, restored our property. The 
 sight of this wonderful, fearful river, and the mountains 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 83 
 
 clad with forests, reminded us of Mr. Rhea and his hymn, 
 "Valley of Ishtazin." The thought that you had trodden 
 these frightful precipices greatly encouraged me. At night we 
 reached Jeloo and spent the night in Zeer, which lies in a 
 valley made beautiful by forests, with a river flowing through. 
 The people showed us great hospitality, and were eager to re 
 ceive the word. On the 14th we left for Bass and spent the 
 Sabbath in Nerik. I shall always remember it with joy, for 
 all the time we were there we were never alone, so many 
 came to hear the word. They said: "What shall we do? 
 We have none to teach us." Half an hour from Nerik we 
 came to Urwintoos. The aunt of Oshana made us her 
 guests. As soon as we sat down the house was filled. They 
 brought a Testament and begged us to read. My heart was 
 glad when I saw how eagerly they listened to the Gospel. 
 After the men had gone the women came to me as those 
 that thirst for water, and I read and conversed with them 
 also. There are many sad deeds of wickedness done here. 
 We reached Tehoma May 17, and I trust that as long as I 
 am here I shall labor for that Master who wearied himself 
 for me. 
 
 She returned to Oroomiah in 1860 and left again in 1861 
 for Amadia, and when she went away, told Mrs. Breath that 
 Miss Fiske had said, when she sawher oldest child for the first 
 time, "Now, Sarah, you will not seek for this child a pleasant 
 home on the plain, like Lot, but rather to do God's will, and 
 then He will give you all things.'* She hardly needed to add: 
 " I have never forgotten her words, and am not willing to seek 
 my own pleasure by staying here." During the winter of '61- 
 '62 no news came from Sarah, but in March she wrote to Miss 
 Rice: "I did greatly long for the coming of your messen- 
 ger, and now I thank Him, in whose hands are all things, 
 
84 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 that he has made us happy by the arrival of letters. Many 
 thanks to you and your dear pupils. The Lord bless them 
 and prepare them for such a blessed work as ours. Our 
 hearts have been contented and happy in seeing some of our 
 neighbors receiving with joy the words of life. Every Sab- 
 bath we have a congregation of thirty-five, both men and 
 women, and the number increases. The people here sit in 
 misery and ignorance. They need our prayers and our help. 
 I verily believe that if we labor faithfully — and God help us 
 thus to labor — we shall soon see our church revived and 
 adorned as a bride for Christ. Soon shall these mountains 
 witness scenes that shall make angels glad. Let us pray for 
 these times and labor with Christ for their coming. In the 
 summer her little son died, and she herself was dangeronsly 
 sick, but she still lives and Mrs. Labaree writes: " There is 
 no woman in the nation more respected for her intelligence, 
 godliness and deep spirituality. It is fitting to add that 
 Miss Fiske's words concerning her children have been ful- 
 filled, in the fact that one of her daughters is now the wife 
 of Rev. J. Wright, missionary at Salmas. 
 
 The joyful anticipations of Sarah are endorsed by 
 accounts of a conference of mountain helpers, held in Gawar, 
 in the summer of 1862. At each session, carefully prepared 
 papers were read on practical topics, followed by discussion. 
 One was "Hindrances to our mountain work," such as their 
 ruggedness, deep snows, superstition and persecution. "For 
 rough roads," said Deacon Tamo, ''we have goats' hair sandals; 
 for deep snow, snowshoes ; for superstition we have the light 
 of the Truth and the sword of the Spirit: and for persecution 
 we have God's promise of divine care." " The duty of faithful 
 pastors,"and 'Means for increasing laborers," were among the 
 topics. They engaged to observe the monthly concert and 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 85 
 
 tane up collections for the support of a laborer in the mount- 
 ains, and at the meeting on Sabbath evening the large sum, 
 for them, of fifty-two dollars, was contributed. Among 
 the offerings were a horse, an ox, a sheep and a goat, besides 
 jewelry. From such meetings, held in such a spirit, we may 
 expect large results. 
 
 That was twenty -five years ago. Let us look at some of 
 the little centres of light now shining. Selby, one of Miss 
 Fiske's first class, lives at Marbeeshoo, now widowed and grey- 
 haired. In that mountain village, she and Esli, another 
 graduate of the school, have had everything to contend 
 with. When Selby first went there she was the only reader. 
 Now there are nine of her relatives who read, besides others, 
 most of them taught by her. Formerly none would listen 
 when she read to them the Bible. Now, as she goes from 
 house to house, from ten to thirty women come to hear, and 
 often fathers and brothers sit down quietly among them. 
 She is not employed by the mission, and has many family 
 cares, and yet she labors thus steadfastly for the good of 
 her people, overcoming opposition by the persistence of her 
 Christian love. Her son was in college in 1^86, and his gentle, 
 yet manly ways, and love of holy Scripture, showed the effects 
 of his mother's training. Esli, who offered that prayer for 
 her departing teacher, has probably no equal for self-deny- 
 ing zeal and persevering effort. Brought up amid the com- 
 forts of Oroomiah, and once a teacher in the seminary, she 
 counts it a privilege to spend years in benighted Tergawer, 
 among those constantly liable to be plundered by lawless 
 Kurds, and often goes to other villages to speak to the 
 women, and it should here be stated, that it requires as 
 much self-denial for a native of Oroomiah to go to the 
 mountains as for an American to go to Persia. It must 
 
86 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 have been a Christ-like spirit that led these two women to 
 tear themselves away from the jubilee meeting in Oroomiah, 
 and hurry back to their dark homes and their work for 
 Christ, but their Saviour does not wait for our slow prayers 
 to fulfil to them his promise, "Lo I am with you always." 
 God bless them. 
 
 In 1885, men from the vicinity of Yan, told of a woman 
 unlike all others, who read the Bible and lived a most con- 
 sistent life, but who was always weeping over the gross 
 darkness and bitter hostility of those around her. In the 
 spring of 1886, some of the mission visited the degraded 
 village in which she lived, and found Nazloo, who had gone 
 out from the seminary more than twenty years before, and 
 had long been lost sight of. She called on them with her 
 husband, whom she had brought to Christ. They had 
 gathered a school in their own house, and with a single copy 
 of the Bible, and two or three other books, had taught the 
 scholars to read, and even to some who came from a distance, 
 out of their own limited means, they gave a home. Who can 
 measure the good done by this one woman, far away from all 
 Christian fellowship, and what limit can we put to the use- 
 fulness of Christian schools that send forth such light into 
 the darkness? Surely there is more vitality in Christian 
 life than many think there is. 
 
 Kabi Kachel also spent a month, in the fall of 1885, among 
 some of the Villages of Tergawer, and again in the spring of 
 1886. She found much to encourage her, notwithstanding the 
 constant terror in which the people live from the Kurds. 
 No wonder she looked worn and haggard after a month's 
 campaign in this difficult field. 
 
 We can trace the effects of the teaching of the seminary even 
 to distant lands. Moressa, wife of Priest Yakob accompanied 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 87 
 
 her husband to England a few years ago, where she made a very 
 pleasant impression among the best classes of Christian so- 
 ciety by the brightness of her intellect, her lady-like man- 
 ners, and intelligence in spiritual things. At home she 
 has now much intercourse with Mohammedan women. Hoi- 
 mar, also another Nestorian woman, has been abroad 
 twice. The last time she came to our own country, and was 
 for several years an assistant at the Chinese Home, in San 
 Francisco. She so won the confidence and esteem of Christ- 
 ian ladies there that they furnished her the means for her re- 
 turn to Persia, where she is now exerting an excellent influ- 
 ence among the women of her own people. Her sister 
 Rachel aided Miss C. Van Duzee, in 1886, in her school 
 at Oola. 
 
WOMAN AND TILE GOSPEL IN PEliSIA. 
 
 CHAPTEK XI. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The pupils were early trained to habits of self-denial for 
 the good of others. In 1844 the day scholars made fifty 
 garments for poor children. Next year the question was 
 asked, when some mountaineers came begging for their chil- 
 dren, "Who will give her own dress and wear a poorer one 
 till she can make another?" and many responded at once, 
 and so eagerly that she was counted the happiest who gave 
 her best dress. In December, 1848, the monthly concert 
 collection for the mountains was 32 krans ($6.40). They 
 used to devote several hours a week to sewing for some 
 benevolent object. One term the articles thus made were sold 
 for $16.00 and the money sent to Aintab, Turkey. 
 
 In 1852, at Geog Tapa, Deacon John preached at the Jan. 
 concert and a few krans were given. At the February con- 
 cert Deacon Yonan, who had read American prize essays on 
 Beneficence with Miss Fiske spoke to a crowded church on 
 the subject of missions, and then the people were made to 
 read for themselves what the Bible said on the antiquity of 
 benevolent contributions, their being given by the poor as 
 well as the rich, and the blessing God promised to the 
 benevolent. Many spoke in approval of the object and as 
 many as two hundred came together in the afternoon and a 
 contribution of 15 krans followed, one sick boy rising from 
 his bed to deposit his little offering. Saints' days were 
 devoted by many to collecting money for the spread of the 
 Gospel. At the March concert Mr. Stoddard showed them 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 89 
 
 some idols from India and the collection was 25 krans. 
 After this a basket used to be passed around with the box to 
 receive the eggs that were brought by those who had no 
 money. Silver crosses were sometimes found among the 
 coins. 
 
 One woman came to ask a missionary lady to pray that she 
 might become a Christian, and when alone gave the only 
 gold ornaments she owned for missions, only, she said, no 
 one must know it. The gold sold for $450, and the donor, 
 we need hardly add, became a Christian. Often buttons 
 made from silver coins were cut off from their dresses and 
 put into the contribution boxes. 
 
 The most noted revival of benevolence occurred in April, 
 1861, and was described by Deacon Yonau in a letter to Miss 
 Fiske and Mrs. Stoddard. This is the substance of it: "My 
 heart was never so enlarged before as in the first week of 
 January, which was set apart for universal intercession for 
 the gift of the Spirit. It seemed as if Persia and the whole 
 world was under the power of prayer. When the mission- 
 aries met for that purpose, I said: "They are praying for 
 us while we are idle," and it was proposed to devote half an 
 hour each day to prayer. On the last Sabbath in March we 
 went to Geog Tapa, and John gave notice of a collection 
 for missions in India. He said our poverty came in part from 
 our sloth. If we had more zeal we might support a laborer 
 in the mountains at a cost of 20 tomans. I said, "We will 
 support one preacher there, two schools among ourselves, 
 and send what is over to a distance." All fell in with the 
 idea. One cried at once, "I will give one toman, another two 
 monats (a monatis 75 cents). The malikgave a gold impe- 
 rial ($4.50). I then said, "I am a debtor, write me down 3 
 tomans." So it went on and though there had been a scarcity 
 
90 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 for seven years, so that wheat was six times its former price, 
 that was forgotten. One woman gave a head-dress, another 
 her ear-rings and another a silver ornament. A widow pro- 
 posed to sell her dead husband' s coat and give half the price. 
 Another said I have nothing now to offer, but I will give of 
 my work this winter ten yards of cotton cloth. One man not 
 used to coming to church, gave the fruit and primings (fuel) 
 of fifteen rows in his vineyard. My mother-in-law promised 
 one hundred and twenty-eight pounds of raisins. My uncle 
 and his wife promised a load of wheat (five bushels). 
 
 Next day we came into the city. After Mr. Coan had 
 addressed the meeting, Deacon John described the scenes of 
 the day before and showed some of the gifts. Moses said, "It is 
 no disgrace for a sick man not to walk, but if he recovers 
 and still lies in bed, all reproach him. We have grown fat, 
 how long shall we lie under the quilts?" Priest Yakob 
 added, "For twenty -five years we have said, 'let the Lord go 
 before, now that he has come let us give;' " and he gave 2 
 tomans, so did others. The wife of Mar Yohanan gave a toman 
 of ornaments ; her husband gave thirty tomans ; Isras, of De- 
 gala, gave fifteen tomans and a new vineyard ; Sagoo, of Gul- 
 pashan, gave his sister Hannah's inheritance, thirty tomans, 
 that had become his at her death.* One who owned only two 
 or three sheep, promised one of them. My little girl, She- 
 rin, gave the new dress she had asked for a few days before, 
 but which had not yet been made. At the evening meeting 
 one gave a gun. There were tithes and sixths, fifths and 
 quarters, thirds and halves of crops. One who had pre- 
 viously given one-fourth of his vineyard now gave one-half. 
 A widow who owned nothing but a cow, pledged four pounds 
 of butter. In Geog Tapa, beside the tithes, seventy tomans 
 were collected, and in Oroomiah two hundred and fifty 
 
 *p. 61 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 91 
 
 tomans. I stood amazed; the glorious God has gone be- 
 fore us in mercy. It is the beginning of a great work for 
 future generations. Heaven rejoices with the joy of blessed 
 Mr. Stocking and Mr. Stoddard in this work of grace. I 
 never knew our people before, and if all were Christians 
 what might we not see? 
 
 The marriage of Mar Yohanan in 1859 was a great step 
 in the elevation of women, for marriage had been counted 
 something too unholy for a bishop, and this involved the 
 degradation of the sex. The entrance of the Cospel corrected 
 the error, and that act of the bishop only voiced the general 
 conviction that marriage is to be had in honor among all, 
 even the holiest servants of the church, inasmuch as it nur- 
 tures some of the loveliest graces of the Ghristian character. 
 The event caused a stir for a time among those hostile to the 
 truth ; but it soon subsided, and the old error that caused it 
 is passing away with the social degradation in which it had 
 its origin. 
 
 About the same time Yohanan was ordained to the work of 
 the ministry, without the wearisome ceremonies that had taken 
 the place of the simple forms of the New Testament, the ven- 
 erable Mar Elias uniting with the missionaries in the laying 
 on of hands ; and soon six more, who had only been waiting for 
 some one to lead the way, followed his example. Among them 
 Oshana, Deacon John and Deacon Yakob. 
 
 In 1858 the people of Memikan ceased to keep the fasts, 
 because they contradicted free grace through Jesus Christ. 
 Once this would have involved ecclesiastical penalties, and 
 their village would have been destroyed, now it was scarcely 
 noticed. Not that men did not see the trend of the move- 
 ment, but seeing it they let it have free course. 
 
 In Turkey, missionaries have been forced, by persecution, 
 
92 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 to form churches to shelter converts driven from their an- 
 cient fold ; but in Persia that need did not exist ; still spirit- 
 ual minds longed for a more spiritual worship. They had 
 never been present at the Lord's Supper, as observed by the 
 mission, till in the spring of 1854. Some who had been 
 reading an English book on the subject, asked permission to 
 attend, and a few of those who were deemed best prepared 
 for it, were invited to partake. In September of that year, 
 in the large room of the seminary, eleven Nestorians, three 
 of them its graduates, sat down with the missionaries at the 
 Lord's Table. After the service some of them went up stairs 
 and sat down in silence. Miss Fiske, fearing lest the sim- 
 plicity of our form had given offence, avoided the subject till 
 one asked: "Is it always so when you commune?" "Why, 
 did you not enjoy it?" "Not enjoy it! Christ himself 
 seemed present, presiding at the table. It must have been 
 just so when the disciples met in that upper room, and the 
 question haunted me, shall one of us go out, like Judas, and 
 betray the Lord?" Those most accustomed to mediaeval 
 forms, when taught of the Spirit, enjoy them the least, and 
 the more spiritual they become the more they relish simple 
 forms, because instead of attracting attention to themselves 
 they allow the heart to rest in Christ alone. In January, 
 1855, seventy were admitted after careful examination, and 
 each communion season that year there was an accession of 
 from twelve to thirty. Even in mid-winter some made long 
 journeys and crossed bleak mountains to attend. Hoimar 
 traveled sixty miles through deep snow and bitter cold to be 
 present in January, 1858. 
 
 In June that year, all entered into covenant with God pre- 
 vious to the ordinance. The whole number received then was 
 two hundred and forty-nine. At the close of 1861 it was 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 93 
 
 five hundred. The year before it had been observed in 
 every village where there were enough of communicants to 
 call for it. Soon after they adopted a creed and directory 
 for worship, and now the converts have all church privileges, 
 without any violent disruption of old ties. 
 
 During the twenty -five years that have elapsed since the 
 writing of "Woman and her Saviour in Persia," the following 
 women mentioned in its pages have finished their earthly 
 course: Sanum, wife of Deacon Joseph, p. 50; Hanee, wife 
 of Deacon Eshoo, p. 52; Martha, p. 67; Eneya, p. 126; 
 Guly, p. 205 ; Nergis, wife of Priest Khamis, p. 205 ; Han- 
 nah, p. 205 ; Nergis, wife of the Malik, of Geog Tapa, p. 234 ; 
 and Munny, pp. 267-269. Most of them died years ago, but 
 Eneya, in 1886, and Martha last winter. Mrs. Labaree 
 says: " They were all good women, and several of them were 
 more than usually consistent and consecrated. Guly, Han- 
 nah and Sanum spent a part, and Eneya and Nergis, wife of 
 Khamis, the whole of their married lives, in the mountains, 
 where their husbands were helpers. Hanee accompanied 
 her husband to Tabriz, where he was preacher and Bible 
 agent. Martha taught in the seminary till her marriage. 
 Among them all was none more earnest and devoted than 
 Munny. Her labors for women were abundant. Eight of 
 these graduates married native helpers, and at least seven 
 have had daughters in the seminary. 
 
 The jubilee or semi-centennial anniversary of the mission 
 was observed at Oroomiah, July 15 and 16, 1885. More than 
 half of the fifteen hundred who attended the services were 
 women, and they formed the most quiet and attentive part of 
 the audience. Their neat appearance and orderly behavior 
 will never be forgotten. When readers were asked to stand 
 up three-fourths of them rose. After sitting on the ground for 
 
94 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 hours they were still eager to listen. They regarded attend- 
 ance on this anniversary as one of the greatest privileges of 
 their lives. Many said that it seemed as though Christ Him- 
 self were speaking to them. Though public exercises 
 filled up most of the two days, several meetings for con- 
 sultation and prayer were held by the women alone. One 
 was in the interest of the Mite Society, which trains them 
 to intelligent interest in systematic giving for the ad- 
 vancement of the kingdom of Christ in the earth. Another 
 was in the interest of the women's meetings, or Knooshyas as 
 they call them, which meet three times a year, and all on the 
 same day, for the discussion of practical religious subjects 
 relating to personal piety, family life and social duty. For 
 these the whole plain is divided into five districts, and the aim 
 is to hold them in regular order at every large village in 
 each district. The officers are selected from the native 
 women, some of whom have never been even to the seminary, 
 but have been educated by their husbands at home, and yet 
 are among the most capable women in the community. 
 Each meeting is held all day long, with an intermission at 
 noon. Written essays are read on topics previously 
 assigned, and the women discuss the subjects treated of with 
 increasing ability and point. A copy of these papers, which 
 are prepared by Mrs. Shedd, is given to each delegate to 
 read to the women of her own village. The native pastors say 
 that these meetings do much to quicken spiritual life among 
 the women. The afternoon session is a missionary meeting. 
 A monthly letter of missionary information, prepared by 
 Mrs. Dr. Cochran, is sent to the collectors in the various 
 villages to read to all the contributors. In many cases the 
 pastors read them to their congregations. Besides these 
 was a meeting of the graduates of the seminary at 
 
WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 95 
 
 sunrise on Wednesday, which was a glad occasion to many 
 who had not met for years, especially those from the mount- 
 ains. Few could appreciate the intensity of their enjoy- 
 ment of such privileges. The time was all too short for their 
 reminiscences and earnest words. 
 
 In 1885, though the Seminary, through the ill health of 
 the principal, was left mainly in the charge of the native 
 teachers, yet the lessons were carried on with regularity, and 
 six pupils were graduated. There were also several hopeful 
 conversions and an evident growth on the part of professing 
 Christians. In 1886 the interest in spiritual things greatly 
 increased after the week of prayer, and continued to deepen 
 till the end of the year. The older pupils were more con- 
 scientious and showed an affectionate interest in the younger 
 scholars. One who had long tried her teachers by her light 
 behavior, confessed with tears that she had been fighting 
 against the Spirit; her convictions were deep and her subse- 
 quent apprehension of grace in Christ no less vivid, while 
 her abiding joy and consistent lite afterwards was remarked 
 by her companions as well as by her teachers. Nearly the 
 whole school voluntarily attended a daily prayer meeting. 
 In the same spirit they formed societies to labor among the 
 girls of the villages and held meetings like those of the 
 Knooshyas of the women. Essays were read and discussed, 
 and they proved their ability to make the meetings both 
 interesting and profitable. 
 
 Mrs. D. P. Cochran has for years been " house mother" 
 in the hospital. Traces of her loving hands appear all 
 through the pleasant, airy wards, in the flowers and pictures ; 
 and the clean, comfortable beds, neat curtains and clean 
 floors make all very inviting. The patients appreciate her 
 care and sympathy, and cannot but carry away new ideas of 
 neatness and comfort to their own homes. 
 
96 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA. 
 
 Not only are the women organized for church work in 
 some of the larger villages, going from house to house and vis- 
 iting systematically neighboring hamlets on the Sabbath, 
 but Miss Van Duzee has had a class of from five to fifteen 
 Moslem women, and has taught a young Mullah, who asked 
 for baptism. She also visited Moslem women at their 
 homes, one of whom took her book with her to the vineyard 
 that her son might teach her to read. As many as two Mo- 
 hammedan women gave evidence of conversion and remained 
 steadfast under persecution. It is a small beginning, but it 
 is the dawn of a great change in Persia. The Lord hasten 
 it in its time. 
 
 Labor among the Nestorians is growing more like 
 labor at home. Instead of national peculiarities, different 
 from ours and therefore conspicuous at first, Christian work 
 moves in a familiar orbit, because it sets out from similar 
 conditions and tends to like results. As the Gospel advances, 
 national traits give place to the spiritual features of the wo: k, 
 common to all lands. The river is most picturesque while 
 yet small high up among the mountains; after it glides 
 into the plain its volume is larger, but its flow is monotonous 
 to the sea. God speed the day when in the placid surface of 
 such a river of life on earth, the Saviour shall see his own 
 likeness reflected, as from the sea of glass above. 
 
NDEX 
 
 Abduction of pupil atternpted_58 
 
 Abraham Priest 13, 27, 81 
 
 Abraham, sister of 55 
 
 Accommodation for the night _10 
 
 Adam and Eve 26 
 
 Aintab, Turkey 88 
 
 Alpine scenery 29 
 
 Amadia 80 
 
 Ambassador, visit of 44 
 
 Anderson, Ruf us D. D 5 
 
 Ardeshai, wild women of 26 
 
 Asher Khan, persecution by 59 
 
 Audible prayer 70 
 
 Awakening, an 34 
 
 Badal 51, 80 
 
 Baxter, Saints Best 17 
 
 Beach, Aaron J 22 
 
 Beating of wives 7 
 
 Beautiful, Christ become 66 
 
 Beds 11 
 
 Bethel, the 64 
 
 Benevolence of the pupils 88 
 
 " " people 89,90 
 
 " " mountains 85,86 
 
 Betrothed, prayer of the 8 
 
 Bible as a text book 15 
 
 " blotted with tears 65 
 
 " loveforthe 15 
 
 Births in stables 7 
 
 Blood of our necks 61 
 
 Boarding school, reasons for 13 
 
 Boobawa 30, 82 
 
 Books, school 15, 16 
 
 Bread money 14 
 
 Broom, old 65 
 
 Buhtan 31 
 
 Burials immediately after 
 death 49, 52 
 
 Care of school 14 
 
 Character of women 8 
 
 Churdewar 30 
 
 Childless mother 62 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Christ, self abnegation of 7 
 
 Chumba 76 
 
 Church organization 92, 93 
 
 Closets, behind a quilt 7, 8 
 
 " in manger 66 
 
 " woodrcom 34 
 
 " how prized 35, 48, 65 
 
 " marked with tears 75 
 
 Clothing of people 6,14 
 
 Coan, Geo. W. Rev 21 
 
 Cochran, Deborah W. Mrs 95 
 
 Committing to spirit 49 
 
 Communion 92 
 
 farewell 61 
 
 Conference, native in mount- 
 tains 84 
 
 Cost of pupils in seminary 17 
 
 Country of Nestorians 6 
 
 Crawford, Harriet N 22 
 
 Darawe _ 30 
 
 Dark days 56—59 
 
 Daughters, how regarded 7, 46 
 
 Daughter praying 67 
 
 Dawood khan 58 
 
 Day in seminary 19 
 
 Day, Sabbath in seminary 20 
 
 Dean, N. Jennie 22 
 
 Death bed, first christian 46 
 
 Degula, wicked women of 42 
 
 Despondency dispelled 43 
 
 Dishonesty , 10 
 
 Divan Khaneh 32 
 
 Domestic department in sem- 
 inary . 18 
 
 Dress and diet of pupils 17 
 
 Dunkha, Priest ___30 
 
 Eating to get strength to pray__69 
 
 Education, missionary 16 
 
 Eggs in contribution box 61, 89 
 
 Elias of Buhtan 31 
 
 Eneya 
 
 Enquirer, first, among the women24 
 Eshoo, Priest ____37, 46, 48, 53, 57 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Esli 21, 64, 85 
 
 Excitement, religious _37 
 
 Families, situation of 7 
 
 Farewell prayer meeting 62,63 
 
 Fasts 79 
 
 Field, women labor in 7 
 
 First fruits 46—55 
 
 Fiske, Fidelia, early life 5 
 
 " arrival of 13 
 
 Fiske, Hannah, Mrs. letter to 9 
 
 Fleas . 11 
 
 Fuel in the country 7 
 
 Gavalan 31 
 
 Gawar 28, 82 
 
 Geog Tapa 24, 39, 88, 90 
 
 Grant, Judith S. Mrs__12,39,46,49 
 Gratitude for spiritual help___9, 64 
 Gulyof Seir . 80,82 
 
 Guwergis, Deacon 51—55, 58 
 
 Half hour, the 19,20 
 
 Hahhie 54 
 
 Hammo 31 
 
 Hand picking 38,81 
 
 Hanee __ 13,22,62,66 
 
 Hannah of Geog Tapa 50, 51 
 
 Hatoon of Geog Tapa 65 
 
 Heleneh 8 
 
 of Tiary 73,76,77 
 
 Hoimar 87, 93 
 
 Holladay, Rev. Albert L 12 
 
 Home, no word for 6, sec. 11 
 
 Home influence, evil 
 
 13, 17, 38, 39,74, 75 
 
 Hoshebo 22 
 
 Hospital 96 
 
 Hospitality (Senum's) 11, 55 
 
 Houses and housekeeping. _6, 7, 10 
 Hymns, Syriac 19 
 
 "If you love me lean hard" 25 
 
 Ignorance among women 26 
 
 Immorality 10, 42 
 
 Importunate prayer 60, 61 
 
 Isaac, Deacon 56 
 
 Ishtazin _„28, 83 
 
 John, Deacon. 21,33, 34, 35, 39, 88, 92 
 Joseph, Deacon 21 
 
 _ , . _ PAGE. 
 
 Journal of Esli in school 21 
 
 Journal of Sarah in the mount- 
 ains 82 
 
 Jubilee . 86, 94 
 
 Kemat, wife of Werda 79 
 
 Keyat 30 
 
 Khamis 29, 76 
 
 Khanumjan 41 
 
 Knooshyas _.__94 
 
 Kurds __46 
 
 Labaree, Benj. Mrs.__78, 79, 84, 93 
 
 Labors for women 24,38,42 
 
 Labors of pupils 38,47 
 
 Ladies, missionary, unmarried, 
 
 position of 14 
 
 Languages studied _16 
 
 Letters of Esli 21 
 
 " of Fiske Miss 13,19 
 
 " of Guly of Seir _.__80 
 
 " of Joseph Deacon 68 
 
 " of Nazee 77 
 
 " of Rachel 9 
 
 " of Sanum 40 
 
 " of Sarah of Geog Tapa 
 
 81,82,83 
 
 Letters of Selby of Vizierawa__64 
 
 " of Yonam, Deacon 89 
 
 Lice 7 
 
 Loud prayer 70 
 
 Lying 8,10 
 
 Lyon, Mary 71 
 
 Manger 11 
 
 Marbeeshoo . 10 
 
 Mardin . ._ 31 
 
 Mar Elias 12, 91 
 
 Mar Ogin 60 
 
 Marriages in Persia 41 
 
 Marriage of Mar Yohanan 91 
 
 Marriage ceremonies 8 
 
 Mar Shimon... 6, 14,29,33,57,58 
 
 Mar Yohanan 12, 31,32, 58, 91 
 
 Mar Yohanan, wife of 90 
 
 Massacre of mountaineer 73 
 
 Mawana 10 
 
 Meetings for women 24, 94 
 
 Memikan 28, 30, 82, 92 
 
 Mended garments 17 
 
 Midnight intercession 43 
 
INDEX. 
 
 99 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Mite societies 9-4 
 
 Misky from Bass 79 
 
 Monthly concert ___ ..67, 71 
 
 Monthly concert at Geog Tapa 
 
 88, 9"» 
 
 Moressa of Geog Tapa. _. 39, 40,86 
 
 Moslem influence 14 
 
 Moslem women 12,96 
 
 Mosul 30, 31 
 
 Mother, a praying 67 
 
 Mother, bereaved 62 
 
 Mountain Nestorians 73—87 
 
 Mountains, scenery of 29 
 
 Mount Holyoke Seminary 16,- 
 
 20,67,71 
 
 Munny ___93 
 
 Murad Khan __52 
 
 Nargis 80 
 
 Nazee 73, 76, 77, 78 
 
 Nazloo 62,86 
 
 Nazloo river 37 
 
 Nerik 83 
 
 Nestorians 6 
 
 Noisy river . 37 
 
 Ooreya 29 
 
 Oppression 6 
 
 Ordination service reformed 91 
 
 Oshana and Sarah 81,92 
 
 Oxford Seminary, Ohio 20 
 
 Passion, outbursts of 8 
 
 Patriarch 6 
 
 Perkins, Justin, D. D 44 
 
 Peril of Seminary 56, 58, 59 
 
 Persecution 56, 59, 76 
 
 Perseverance in praver 67, 69 
 
 Pins, black * ___10 
 
 Pit, the 50 
 
 "Pledge the" 75 
 
 Poisoning of Sanun's children. .59 
 
 Poverty of people 6,14 
 
 Prayerfulnessof Nestorians .60 — 72 
 Prayer, behind church in win- 
 ter 41 
 
 Pra)er, broken 60 
 
 " continuing instant in 69 
 
 " importunate 60, 61 
 
 " loud 70 
 
 " of one 90 years old .40 
 
 PAGF. 
 
 Prayer on horseback 60 
 
 ,k on roof at midnight H> 
 
 " in Degula 68 
 
 " in both hemispheres. _71, 82 
 
 " noted week of 68 
 
 " meetings 69 
 
 " of Esh 64 
 
 " specimens of language 
 
 in 60, 61,68 
 
 Prayer better than sleep 65, 74 
 
 Preaching, effects of 33 
 
 Profanity 8 
 
 Pupils, labors of 38, 47 
 
 Quietness produced by the Spirit 21 
 
 Quietness in revival of „50, 56 
 
 Quilt partition 7 
 
 Rabi Rachel „„86 
 
 Rachel (Raheel) 22 
 
 Rakhamee and Rukhamee 31 
 
 Readers, women, formerly none. .8 
 
 Repeating a praver. __ 24 
 
 Reports, daily in school... 18, 19, 20 
 
 Resurrection not for women 79 
 
 Reviling 8 
 
 Revivals 33—45 
 
 " of 1846 34-39 
 
 " of 1849 39—42 
 
 " of 1850. _. ..68-71 
 
 " of 1856 43,44 
 
 " of 1857 45 
 
 Rhea, Samuel A. Mrs 22 
 
 Rice, Mary S. . 19, 2 J, 22, 28, 32, 71, 80 
 Runaways 13 
 
 Saat, women of 30 
 
 Sabbath in Seminary 20 
 
 Sab. school in Gavalan 32 
 
 Sanawar 30 
 
 San Francisco 87 
 
 Sanum of Gawar._34, 40, 46, 59, 62 
 
 Sarah of Gawar _._34, 46—50 
 
 Sarah of Tiary 57,73 
 
 Sarah of Geog Tapa 81 
 
 Seir__ ..__ 40, 56 
 
 Selbyof Gavalan 13,85 
 
 Selby of Vizierawa 64 
 
 Self denying work for Christ. 
 86,88,90,91 
 
100 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Seuiinary,attempt at abduction 
 
 from 16, 22 
 
 Seminary, books in 15, 16 
 
 Seminary, broken up in 1844 
 
 Seminary, daily reports 19 
 
 Seminary, day in 19 
 
 Seminary, expense 17 
 
 Seminary, labors with women 
 
 in 24 
 
 Seminary, Sabba'h in 20 
 
 Seminary, scholarship of 9,16 
 
 Seminary, teachers in 22 
 
 Senum 11 
 
 "Settling it" 11 
 
 Shedd, I. H.Mrs 95 
 
 Sickness, no provision for 7, sec. 11 
 
 Silent devotion 43, 44, 69 
 
 Simplicity of converts 37 
 
 Siner, too deeply moved to 44 
 
 Siyad, Deacon 22, 41 
 
 Smoke in houses 6 
 
 Speakin g in meeting 28 
 
 Stealing 8, 10 
 
 Stocking, Win. R. Rev. 26, 27,- 
 
 28,32, 34,47, 54 
 
 Stoddard,D. T. Rev. 34, 35, 37, 38,89 
 
 Stoddard, Sophia D.Mrs 88 
 
 Stupidity of women 26 
 
 Tamo, Deacon 37, 43 
 
 Tears, marks of 75 
 
 Tehoma .._ 82 
 
 PAOE. 
 
 Tent chapel .32 
 
 Tergawer 85,86 
 
 Testaments.how paid for 15 
 
 Tiary _. 73, 76 
 
 Tiary girls 73 
 
 Untidiness 7, 17 
 
 Urwintoos 83 
 
 Vacation, excursion 31 
 
 Vacation, feeling of girls about.. 38 
 
 Van Dnzee, Mary K 22,96 
 
 Van Duzee, C. Miss 87 
 
 Viragoes 8 
 
 Walking concordance 46 
 
 Wife learning to pray 66 
 
 Will unsubdued 50 
 
 Wives beaten 7 
 
 Woman, character 8 
 
 Woman, position 8 
 
 Wright, Austin H. M.D 13 
 
 Wright, J. Mrs ..___84 
 
 Wright,Lucy M__ 22 
 
 Yahya Khan .. 58 
 
 Yakob 35,92 
 
 Yoghoort 11 
 
 Yohanan 82 
 
 Youanof Geog Tapa 19,22,29 
 
 30, 34, 41, 76, 77, 88 
 
 Zeer 
 
 .83 
 
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